


It's Cold Outside

by stilinskiforever



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Captured, Episode 2x09, Hurt Barry, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Torture, Uneasy Allies, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 01:01:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5519684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilinskiforever/pseuds/stilinskiforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>canon compliant until 2x09 (2x09 alternate ending)</p><p>What if the Trickster and the Weather Wizard became suspicious of Captain Cold after his reluctancy to conspire against the Flash? What if they caught him paying a visit to his friend Barry Allen? </p><p>or the one where Leonard Snart is used as bait for Barry Allen</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Leonard Snart left Barry's house as quickly as he came, but not of course before downing the rest of his hot chocolate. Whatever mix that kid had, it was good- even if he was out of mini marshmallows.

Speaking of that kid, he had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't know Len. He didn't know what he was or wasn't, good or bad. Snart scowled. Why was he so capable of getting under his skin? Why did he care what Barry Allen thought? 

He remembered the anger in his eyes as he threw him up against the wall. "Are you out of your mind? Breaking into my home?" he had snarled.

Barry had fire, he'd give him that.

Then he'd had the audacity to ask him for help taking down Jesse and Mardon.

"You're doing a pretty lousy job of being a villain this week," Barry had accused him with such confidence. What did he know?

That was the last time he'd help him. Besides he'd only done it to keep things interesting, he'd gain nothing from helping Mardon and Jesse kill the Flash- that and only that was the reason he wasn't going to help. Even if his conscience, which was starting to sound annoyingly like Allen, seemed to whisper to him otherwise.

Len had betrayed him in the not-so-distant past. So why was the Flash so quick to think he had changed? 

He shook his head as he rounded the corner at the end of the block and stopped short as he came face to face with Mardon. He looked unnervingly nonchalant with a grin to match. 

He cocked his head, "Fancy running into you here, Snart." 

Had Mardon seen where he was coming from? God, why was Barry's identity his first concern? Len mentally kicked himself. Because he was a man of his word, that was why. Snart had honor, as Allen had called it, even if he'd never admit it aloud. 

His hand slowly began making its way toward the cold gun. "Why yes it is," he sneered. "I'd love to stay and chat but I'm sure you have a hurricane to start or a storm to brew." 

Mardon simply laughed, "See, I did, but that was while I was under the impression that you were on our side. When I found out about your little meeting with your buddy the Flash, I had to reschedule." 

A sly response was on the tip of Len's tongue, and trust him, it was gonna be good, but it was cut off by the swift blow to the back of his head that he never saw coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic so feedback is appreciated! I'm sorry this chapter was so short! There's more to come! Thanks so much for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

When Snart woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was handcuffed to a pole. Well, his hands were in the cuffs, but the chain went around the pole, effectively keeping him from getting anywhere. 

He had made this observation when he first came to, and then proceeded to try and roll over. 

"Damn it," he cursed, as he made his way to his knees, yanking on the chain.

His parka had been taken from him. That was the second thing he noticed. He looked around for it, but the room was dark. There was one dying lightbulb in the corner of the ceiling. From what he could see, his favorite blue coat wasn't around, which also contained his cold gun, so that was lovely. 

He stood up and felt the last of the dizziness wearing off, taking in his surroundings. The back of his head was still aching. He was obviously in some sort of basement. There seemed to be no windows. The floor was cold cement, as were the walls and ceilings. There was a single door on the far wall about 10 feet away from him. 

He tried to focus on what he knew. The last he remembered was talking to Mardon- crap. Assuming their little alliance was still chugging along, Snart knew he and Jesse were behind this. 

"The Trickster and the Weather Wizard take Captain Cold"- Len could picture that Cisco kid having a hay day with it right now. 

But why?

They must've found out about his betrayal. That he'd clued in the Flash. But why wouldn't they just kill him then? He groaned, realizing who he was dealing with. Death was probably a boring revenge for them- or the Trickster at least. He seemed like one twisted dude. 

Still, he hadn't done nearly enough to them to surpass the Central City's favorite scarlet speedster on their people-who-must-be-punished list. So why were they wasting their time on him? He wasn't so sure he wanted to find out.

The last thing Snart noticed was that something else was bugging him too. 

Snart hated himself for it, but he couldn't stop wondering if they knew about his meeting with Barry, wondering if they knew who the Flash was now- because of him. 

God, here he was, literally kidnapped and stuck in some basement, and he was feeling worried for Barry. 

He continued to yank on the chain, but a couple minutes later gave up after realizing he was doing more damage to his wrists than the cuffs. 

He sat unceremoniously back down on the ground and huffed. 

Light flooded into the room as the door opened, and in strode Jesse and Mardon.

The Trickster giggled, "Sorry about the head wound, Captain, I didn't think you'd be out for that long." 

Snart struggled back up to his feet. His tone was cool and even, "Let's get to the point. What do you two want?"

Mardon leaned against the far wall, "Snart, we already told you what we want."

"You want the Flash dead," Snart responded dryly. "So why am I here?"

Mardon smiled, "James and I thought it was weird the other night how reluctant you seemed to help us kill the Flash- someone who's only ever stood in your way. He landed you in prison, I got you out, and yet you wouldn't help me take him down. We realized you've clearly grown some sort of soft spot for him." 

"I simply have nothing to gain from killing the Flash. I'm not about to put my neck on the line for something that won't pay off," Snart cut him off.

The Trickster shook his head smiling, "Then tell us what you were doing at the detective's house."

"I was visiting an old acquaintance," Snart glared, unsure how much they knew.

He didn't like the glow of confidence radiating from the duo. As much as he tried to hide his concern, it was growing. 

But Mardon didn't know who the Flash was. How could he possibly know what he was doing at the West home?

"An old acquaintance who works for CCPD? That's interesting," Mardon quipped. "And it's a lie. 

"Lying isn't very nice," the Trickster chastised, fiddling with what seemed to be the corpse of a doll, similar to the ones Snart had seen hung up at the warehouse. "As we said, we were quite suspicious when you didn't want to help us rip the Flash to pieces. So we followed you to your little safe house on the city outskirts. It's a cute little home, although the surrounding area's a bit rough, which may bring down market value."

"Not possible," Snart scowled in disbelief.

He had been careful. He was always careful.

"Well, 'followed' would imply that I didn't already know where it was," Mardon grinned at him. "I keep my tabs. Don't be too hard on yourself, we kept our distance. You see, we had only followed you in hopes of finding some useful information, or to get rid of what seemed to be a possible new threat- i.e. you- but we hit the jackpot."

"You and your sister Lisa seem to be pretty close," the Trickster mused. 

"Leave her out of this," he growled, losing his cool façade. 

"Don't worry, she's not of interest,"  
Jesse waved his hand. "However, of all the conversations you two had last night, one was particularly valuable. Do you remember what it was?"

How had they overheard them? They had to bluffing. Although, Snart definitely recalled one exchange that he hoped they did not pick up. 

He had told Lisa exactly how he got out of prison early, and how Jesse and Mardon wanted his help to take down the Flash.

"You're going to help him, and you know it," Lisa had smirked snagging another of Len's chocolate chip cookie from the jar. 

"And why would I do that?" He had asked as he sat down at the kitchen table. 

He remembered that a light snow was falling, and that they had opened the window. Well, he had opened the window- to Lisa's chagrin- because he enjoyed the fresh, cool air. He had set his focus on the outside scenery in order to avoid his sisters accusatory stare. 

Shit. The open window. 

"Because you don't hate him," she had said as she sat down next to him. "You act like you do, but you don't. He's helped you on more than one occasion. He helped save me- and you."

Len had continued to stare outside into the cold. "I don't owe him anything." 

But he had known that wasn't true. He valued his sisters life more than anything else in this world, and Barry-and-Company had helped save it. 

"I'll drop by his house and give him a warning," he turned to face his sister. "But that's it." 

Snart did not like where this was going. If they had, as they claimed, followed him to his safe house, what are the chances they had heard him through the window? 

Considering his current situation, he realized that the chances were not in his favor. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, trying to void his eyes of emotion- of his fear. 

"It didn't take long to put two and two together," Mardon shrugged. "You should probably close the window if you're going to have secret conversations, by the way. You said you were going to warn the Flash."

He had heard. 

"So, of course, instead of killing you then, we followed you. You went to Detective West's house. And I happen to know the only people who live there are Joe, his daughter and his make-shift son- Barry Allen, CCPD's youngest CSI." 

No. No no no. Snart had promised him. He knew he had lied to the kid in the past- at Ferris Air, to be exact- but he would never have told these psychos his identity. He had his boundaries, and this was definitely one of them. 

"If I remember correctly, Allen was struck by lightning on the night the particle accelerator went off, and left in a coma for months. All Flash activity seems to have started afterwards. I'm not an idiot, Snart." 

Snart knew it was over. He knew his face showed it. He was trying, he really was, to keep his emotions reigned it. But the guilt and fear were becoming unbearable. They knew. They knew everything. 

"The fact that he's also Joe's son is just an added bonus," Mardon smiled wickedly. 

The Trickster looked up from his mutilated doll, grinning. "So we waited for you to have your little chat after Barry got home. Gave me some time to really get into the holiday spirit. I even wrote a Flash-themed Christmas song, if you want to hear it." 

The pit was growing in Snart's stomach. This was bad. This was really, really bad. 

"Seems like grasping at a lot of straws, but for argument's sake, let's say you're right. You still never answered my question," he glared, yanking again at the chain, but he knew his voice wavered. "Why the hell am I here?"

"Based on past events, the Flash would risk his life to save any one person, let alone you, the person who just tipped him off, the person who seems to have sown sort of weird alliance with him," Mardon strode arrogantly towards him, conjuring up lightning in one hand, and several dangerously sharp icicles in the other. 

He stepped closer, smiling menacingly. 

"Once Barry sees you here like this, he'll come running."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if that was boring/confusing/annoying or any other negatively connotated word you can think of. 
> 
> Refresher if you need it:  
> Mark Mardon = Weather Wizard  
> James Jesse = the Trickster  
> Leonard Snart = Captain Cold
> 
> If you don't know who Barry Allen is, I can't help you. (;
> 
> Again, still learning and working out the kinks, I'm a work in progress!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Barry Allen could not believe Cold.  
First he showed up in his home of all places, which was definitely crossing some kind of line. He was sure of it. Then he had had the nerve to tell him that Mardon and Jesse were plotting to kill him, but decline to help. 

Yes, Barry did appreciate the tip. Of course he did. 

But God, it made him angry that Snart came in and acted like he was offering up this grand gesture. If he truly wanted to help, he'd follow through. He wouldn't just bail out. 

"I'm not interested in being a hero,"  
Snart had said. 

That sentence echoed in Barry's head. 

He uttered the word hero as if it was the most despicable thing in the world. 

Barry had wanted to call him a coward. Snart had only tried to help him behind the scenes. He wouldn't actually try to back him up when it came to possibly risking his own skin. 

God, it frustrated Barry so much. He didn't even know why. But he knew Snart wasn't just a coward- there was more too it than that, there had to be. He'd told him in Iron Heights that he knew it. He'd meant it then and he still meant it now. 

He was a good person who'd been born into a crappy life, and made some bad decisions along the way- okay, some very bad decisions- but the good person was still in there somewhere. Barry truly believed that. He wasn't excusing his behavior- he just wasn't going to give up on him. 

Barry rolled out of bed the next morning at 10 am. Maybe this wasn't the best time to be catching up on his sleep, but it had been a stressful past 24 hours. Plus, his phone ringer was on the highest setting, just in case. 

After Snart had left, Barry had run to STAR Labs to inform the team of his conversation with Cold. Cisco and Jay were almost done with the Weather Wand. Caitlyn was continuing to watch for fluctuations in atmospheric electricity levels in Central City. 

Then he'd found Joe wandering among the metahuman containment cells. The guilt he felt about Wally was eating him alive. Barry could see it on his face. He had tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, which he truly meant. But he could tell this wasn't something that was just going to blow over. 

Barry had stayed at STAR Labs until pretty late that night, checking up on progress with the wand, and trying to help where needed. 

He had tried to call Patty too. Her obsession with Mardon was scaring him. He knew what it felt like to want revenge that badly. He knew how much it hurt, how much it slowly killed you inside. He knew how it could drive a person to do things they would later regret. But she hadn't answered. 

Barry had trouble sleeping that night, all of these concerns flying around his head. He wished that everything would just calm down for a bit- it was almost Christmas Eve. He just wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the holidays, himself included. 

He headed into the kitchen the next morning, shaking his head as he grabbed three chocolate chip cookies from the tin Patty had given him. There were some perks to his metahuman super metabolism. 

He turned around, and didn't get the first cookie to his mouth before they hit the floor. 

The Trickster was sitting at his kitchen table smiling, cookie in hand. 

Why did this keep happening? 

But this was different than when Cold came- he couldn't be here for the Flash. As far as Barry knew, Jesse wasn't aware of his extracurricular speedster activities.

"What the hell?" Barry demanded, lost for words, unsure of what to say without giving himself away. 

"I'd introduce myself, but we already know each other," Jesse bit into a cookie. A laptop sat next to him on the table. "So sorry for my manners, but the talk we need to have is of the utmost urgency."

Barry did a quick mental check. Iris and Joe weren't there. She said she was going to ask him to meet her at Jitters that morning to talk about Wally. He sighed in relief. 

"Look I don't know who you are," he said as he slowly began reaching for his phone in his back pocket. "But you need to get out."

"Oh Mr. Allen, I know who you are," the trickster smiled. "Kind of ironic, really. Your father was a murderer. Yet here you are playing hero, Flash." 

How did he know that? Why did he know that? 

Barry froze and kept his tone even, "I don't know what you're talking about." 

"I'd advise you to slowly walk over here and take a look this before you do anything stupid," he replied as he opened the laptop on the table. 

They were on a Skype call. 

Barry slowly made his way over to the screen. 

Leonard Snart sat, wrists and ankles tied to a chair, trying his best to look only slightly more annoyed than usual. But Barry knew better. Mark Mardon stood beside him, waving at Barry, little flecks of electricity coming off of his fingers. 

"What the hell is this?" Barry glared through gritted teeth. 

"Don't you get it?" The trickster giggled, "He's the damsel in distress!" 

"Hardly," Snart growled lowly. 

This was not happening. Now his leaked identity wasn't even the biggest of his problems. He ran his hands through his hair. 

"He's not the one we want Allen- you are. If we see so much as a flicker of electricity on you, he's dead," Mardon said, sending a small jolt of lightning into Snart's arm, causing him to wince slightly. 

Barry breathed in slowly, thinking through his options. He had no way of figuring out Snart's location fast enough without the help of Cisco and Caitlin, and even if he could, he didn't know if he could get there in time. If he could get there fast enough, all he could do at this point was jump in the way of the electricity, protecting Snart temporarily. He didn't have the wand Cisco was creating to stop Mardon- he didn't even know if it was finished- and he didn't have time to retrieve it. 

It didn't seem like he had any other choice but to surrender. 

Sure it was Snart- the man who had betrayed him before. But he had also come to warn him earlier that day about the plot against him, which come to think about it, was probably how he had gotten himself into his current predicament. 

"Alright," Barry sighed. It didn't matter who it was. He was not about to let someone die because of him. "I'll do whatever you say, just let him go."

Barry could've sworn he saw confusion, relief, and fear flash across Snart's eyes all at once- yet so quick that they were never there at all. He looked away. 

The handcuffs that he complacently allowed the Trickster to place on him were expected. Pointless, but expected. What Barry was not expecting was the painful shockwave that immediately swept through his body. 

He cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor.

"What the hell did you do?" he distantly heard Snart's protests.

A second scream erupted from him as a violent jolt flooded through his body, as if the life were being sucked out of him. 

The shocks slowed down to a dull burning sensation. He tried to get to his feet, but felt terribly weak. That was all Barry remembered before he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a good Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate). Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

Snart watched the screen warily as the Trickster put handcuffs on Barry, who wouldn't look him in the eyes.

Why handcuffs? He said he would do whatever was asked of him. And it's not like Barry couldn't get out of them if he wanted to- right? Snart was pretty sure he could like vibrate super fast or something and break them. 

Not a moment later, a scream tore through Barry, as he fell to the floor, out of view of the camera. 

"What the hell did you do?" Snart yelled angrily, tugging at his restraints. 

He heard Barry cry out again. He winced at the sound. It infuriated him. 

Mardon walked around him and closed the laptop, ending the call. 

"What was that?" he demanded again, through gritted teeth. 

"A new gadget of the Trickster's," Mardon smiled. "They're supposed to temporarily take away his speed- suck away the speed force, I think they call it- and by the sound of it, they work. Killing him would've been too easy." 

"That's low, even for you," Snart glared, shaking his head.

"You really did go soft in prison didn't you?" Mardon sneered.

Mardon undid Len's restraints and led him back into the room he had originally woken up in, unceremoniously shoving him through the door.

Although every inch of body was steaming with the urge to hurt Mardon, he controlled himself- if only barely. He wasn't particularly in the mood to be electrocuted. Or attacked by his own personal hail storm. 

Don't get him wrong though, he was just waiting for his moment. And in that moment, there would be no mercy. 

Sitting against the wall of the dungeon, as he decided it should be called- seriously, would it kill them to renovate- he began counting the minutes as they went by, a habit he developed as child. 

Specifically when his father had locked him in the basement or the closet with nothing else to do to pass the time by. So he made the time go by himself, or at least that was what the seven-year-old version of Snart believed. It made it easier, and it calmed him down. He grew to count the seconds, minutes- hours, even- to distract him from Lewis's abuse. 

23 minutes. 

But hey, one didn't become a first-rate thief without having a finely tuned internal clock. 

He just didn't understand why he was so angry. He'd personally inflicted pain on Barry himself before. Before. What had changed? Certainly not him, as much as Barry disagreed. People didn't change. 

No one was "good" or "evil." Everyone simply dealt in different shades of grey. 

47 minutes.

No, he hadn't changed. The Flash had just become somewhat of an ally. That was it. Not for any reason other than the fact that it was more beneficial to Snart that way. Stay on Barry's good side, and he'd stay out of his way. He'd be free to rob everyone of everything he wanted to, so long as he didn't hurt anyone in the process. 

Everything he did was for his own personal gain. Not for this so-called "honor" Barry spoke of. 

96 minutes.

His head shot up and he was pulled from his thoughts as the door flew open and Jesse pushed in one handcuffed, and now also blindfolded Barry Allen, and then shut the door behind him. He stumbled forward, but managed to catch himself. 

"Hold on," Snart said calmy, as he got to his feet, surprised that Barry was standing after what he'd seen earlier. 

Barry's head turned to him, "Snart?"

"Yeah. Here," he said as he untied the blindfold, and tossed it aside. 

"Thanks," Barry nodded, looking around the room. 

He'd been blind far too often lately for his own liking. First Doctor Light, now this. He didn't appreciate it. Blindfold removed, he took in his surroundings, including Snart. He looked perfectly fine, save for a few marks on his wrists, likely from handcuffs. 

Snart avoided eye contact as he sat back down against the far wall. 

"Do you know where we are?" Barry asked, joining him.

Don't think Len didn't notice the way his body seemed to be shaking as he made his way to the floor. 

"About an hour and a half away from your place. That's how long it took you to get here," he replied. 

"I woke up about an hour from here, I think," Barry recalled. "But I have no clue as to where we are because, you know, blindfolds tend to have that effect."

"You should know I didn't tell them," Snart said, gaze set on the door across the room. "They followed me to your house."

"I believe you," Barry replied, voice a little raspier than usual. 

"So those really took away your speed," Snart nodded at his restraints, eyeing his condition. 

"Yeah...It doesn't really hurt anymore," Barry squinted his eyes shut, groaning. "I just feel weak everywhere. At first though, it felt like electricity was shooting through me, but I think it was the electricity- the speed force- leaving me, being ripped out of me."

Snart felt sick to his stomach. Barry did not look good. Len could tell his skin was pale, and the kid didn't have that much color to begin with. He could see now that his eyes looked exhausted. 

Yes, he'd shot him with his cold gun before- several times, actually- but this was different. This seemed like new level of cruelty.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. 

"It's okay," Barry turned to him. "You said it yourself, you didn't mean for any of this to happen. But we're gonna have to work together now to get out of this."

Yes, Barry was mad before. But like it or not, they were here now, and anger wasn't going to help anything. Besides, Snart was only there because he'd tried to help him, as much as that had backfired on both of them. 

Len just nodded.

Barry started pulling at the cuffs, trying to see if he could maneuver his way out of them. 

"God, I just need to get these off," he groaned in frustration. "Can you see if you can do anything?"

Barry turned so Snart could examine them. Up close he could see they looked much more high-tech than a typical pair of handcuffs. The silver metal was lined with scarlet and yellow. There was what appeared to be a keyhole in the middle of the steel bar connecting both the cuffs, outlined by a lightning bolt. Len was somewhat sad that it was an inappropriate situation to appreciate the irony.

He tugged at them from several different angles. There was no wiggle room between Barry's wrists and the metal. They wouldn't budge. 

"Sorry, Allen," Snart frowned. "Looks like we need the key." 

Barry sighed and leaned back against the wall. "That's too bad. It's killing my shoulders."

Snart huffed a quiet, empty laugh, "Yeah, kid, that's our biggest concern."

Barry thought about his current predicament. While he was still uncertain about Captain Cold, at least he wasn't completely alone. If he'd been gone for two hours, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be long now before Joe or Iris, or the Star Labs crew realized he was missing. At least he hoped not. 

"Wait, hold on," Barry said excitedly. 

He pressed his back against the wall. stretched his arms downward, and lifted himself over his hands, bringing them around to the front of his body. 

"Saw that on a TV show," he sighed, laughing softly, and leaned his head against the wall. "At least my shoulders feel better."

"Great, now all our problems are solved," Snart rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I had to go back to school this week after break and yikes. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

"Sorry it took me so long," Mardon sauntered into the room. "I had some business to attend to." 

"What do you want, Mardon?" Barry got to his feet as steadily as he could.

Snart had to hand it to him. While he didn't look in the slightest bit physically intimidating, the fire in his eyes was still there. 

But there was a sort of fire in Mardon's eyes too. Except this fire burned of rage and vengeance, and it made Snart uneasy, determined though he was not to let it melt his icy exterior. 

"Imagine my delight when I found out that the Flash is none other than Barry Allen, foster son of Dectective Joe West, the man who killed my brother," Mardon laughed. "Oh, you've got so many strikes against you."

A small burst of lightning shot from his hand straight into Barry. 

He bucked his chest, a small sound escaping his clenched teeth, right shoulder leaned against the wall for support. 

"Leave him alone," Snart growled. 

A quick flick of Mardon's hand sent a gust of wind throwing Snart against the side wall. 

"Careful, Cold," he sneered.

"Let him go, okay? You've got me, I'm who you want," Barry stated calmly.

"I don't think so. You're lucky I'm letting him live," he mused, watching a sphere of hail he created float above his hands.

"Why?"

"He's really only still here to make this more interesting. It'd be a shame if he became a nuisance," he turned his glare to Snart. 

"Why am I here then?" Barry demanded.

"See, it wouldn't be much fun if I killed you right now. And frankly, Detective West just hasn't suffered long enough," he shook his head laughing, but his smile slowly turned to rage. "No, I want him to spend weeks searching for you. I want him to go crazy wondering who's taken you, who's killed you- like I did for Clyde."

All at once the ice he'd been sculpting grew to the size of a bowling ball and hit Barry square in the chest, knocking him back against the wall- and knocking the wind out of him. 

He gasped for air as he managed to put his arms up to shield his face from the Mardon's next blow.

An even bigger chunk of hail hit him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, and tried to roll out of the way as he heard ice smashing against the wall to his right. 

Then Mardon was moving too fast for him to dodge the ice- the irony hurt him- and he was being pelted with hail. 

Snart tried to aid Barry as Mardon advanced, but was blown back against the wall and held there. 

He knew Barry was already weak- he couldn't take this. Snart watched him try unsuccessfully to shield himself as it rained down on him. 

Barry glanced up to see Mardon restraining Cold with one hand and assaulting him with the other. 

He bit down on his tongue hard, trying to suppress a shout as a particularly large piece hit him in chest again. Sharp ice collided with his cheekbone and he instinctively raised his hand to the spot, feeling blood. 

As he tried again to roll away, the hail stopped. His breathing heavy, he lifted his head slowly. 

More lightning shot towards him. He felt his body stiffen as he lost control, starting to cry out as black spots started to dot his vision. He felt the surge of electricity stop, but the pain didn't go away. 

As soon as injuries came, he could usually feel them at least beginning to heal. He could be comforted by the knowledge that the pain would subside. But now he didn't have that luxury. Without his speed, his wounds would heal at a regular pace. 

Eyes squeezed shut, he heard the door close, and he heard Snart's voice and footsteps approaching him. 

"Barry, are you okay?" Leonard crouched by his side, and lightly touched his shoulder.

He cringed as Barry winced at the touch. 

"'m fine," he groaned.

Snart looked him over, seeing bruises and welts beginning to form, blood coming from several of the wounds, some worse than others.

"Flash, I've seen you go through worse," he said, recalling past injuries, some of which may or may not have been his doing. "But you look like hell."

"Usually...heal," he murmured, as he opened his eyes, his vision beginning to clear. 

Of course. Snart had always seen the Flash as some sort of invincible threat, though he wouldn't admit it. But to be fair, he'd witnessed Barry conquer every single metahuman that came his way. 

So it didn't seem to register with him that he could be anything other than bulletproof. 

Barry groaned and shakily rolled onto his side. He situated himself against the wall, because his back seemed to have made it out almost unscathed. He leaned his head back against the concrete and closed his eyes, trying to will both the dizziness and the headache to go away. 

He was vaguely aware of Cold sitting to his right. He appreciated the fact that he wasn't saying anything. 

Ever since Barry had arrived, Snart really hadn't been anything but nice to him. He almost felt bad for saying to him what he did the day before.

Barry really wanted to believe that Snart was helping him because he cared, and not just because he needed his help to get out of here, as the voice in the back of his pounding head seemed to keep insinuating. The lack of help Barry could actually provide in his current state, though, seemed to support the former. 

No, Barry had meant what he said about Snart. He was a good person, and he did care. He believed it, even if Cold didn't. 

"New plan," Snart broke the silence, pulling Barry from his thoughts. 

Barry waited, and as several seconds passed, turned his head to Cold. "Yes?"

"I'm working on it," he huffed. 

"Well by saying 'new plan,' you kind of imply that you've already come up with the new plan," Barry pointed out. "And we didn't really have an original plan, so whatever you come up with isn't a new plan, it's just a plan-"

"Barry."

"Clearly, we can't take out Mardon without my powers or your gun. So we either figure out how to take down the Trickster and make a run for it, get my speed back, or get your gun back," Barry thought aloud.

While it slightly annoyed Snart, at least the rambling was now productive. 

"I need you to describe to me exactly what happened when you arrived here," Cold said thoughtfully. 

"Well, Jesse pulled me out of the van, and we didn't walk too far before we stopped and he opened what I'm assuming to be the main entrance. We walked about a hundred feet- a hallway maybe- and then I think the door was on the right, and we walked down the stairs- which is really, really hard when your blindfolded- and then he opened another door and pushed me in, and you were here."

"Okay," Len nodded. "Even if we get out that main entrance, they're gonna catch us in our current condition. I need my gun, assuming it's here somewhere. Or the key to those cuffs."

Barry laughed softly, "Never did I ever think I'd be helping Captain Cold get his gun back."

"Yes, this is hilarious," he drawled. 

After a few minutes of silence, Snart realized Barry had fallen asleep. He decided he'd let him rest- he deserved it. He scanned Barry's injuries once more. 

None of them seemed tragically severe, but they couldn't feel too pleasant. Welts lined his arms. Snart assumed that the rest of his body probably was bruised as well, but his exposed arms had received the worst of it. Several pieces of hail had broken skin. Snart wondered how sharp ice had to be to cut you.

The injuries made Len's skin boil. He wasn't exactly sure why, and he wished he didn't care, but he did- and he was angry.

But he was also scared. He was scared of how far Mardon was going to go, and he was scared there would be nothing he could do about it. 

No, he'd do something- he'd figure out something. Because he was going to get Barry out of there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm really sorry this took so long. I sort of had a family tragedy and just couldn't really bring myself to write for a while, and I'm not saying this just to get pity or anything, I just wanted to let you guys know I do have a kind of reason/excuse. 
> 
> That being said, I hope you liked the chapter and I really will try to update more frequently. &once again, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

When Barry woke up he groaned. Loudly. The sounds around him were fuzzy and he felt disconnected. 

"You okay, kid?" Snart's voice pulled him completely into the state of consciousness. 

"Yep," he replied. "I'm good."

Len wasn't convinced. Even more bruises had shown up on his skin. He was a mess. Before he could question him any further, the door swung open again. 

Jesse walked in, hand on the gun in his pocket. He looked Barry over with a disturbing sort of delight. 

Barry resisted the urge to cringe. But seriously, Mardon had just left, he didn't need this right now. He literally just woke up. And God, that guy was creepy. 

"So you're the Flash," the Trickster smiled, leaning back against the closed door. "I'm a little starstruck."

Barry was too tired for a snippy comeback. He hoped his glare expressed how he felt enough to make up for it. 

"I need to go to the bathroom," Snart interrupted nonchalantly, jumping to his feet. 

Barry looked at him, trying to conceal both his gratitude and his curiosity.

The Trickster looked at Snart in annoyance, pointed his gun at him, and nodded his head at the open door. He escorted him up the stairs. This was the first Snart had seen of the upper floor. He looked left down the long hallway that Barry had described, and saw the main entrance at the end. Jesse ushered him to the right to the bathroom at the other end of the hallway, which wasn't far from the top of the stairs. 

Snart shut the door behind him and looked around. There was a single toilet with an empty cabinet above it and a sink. Toilet paper sat on the floor next to a plunger. There wasn't even soap. This was really sanitary. 

He used the restroom quickly because he actually did have to go, despite the fact he hadn't received anything to drink since he arrived. 

It was now or never. He looked for the most lethal thing he could find. He considered taking screws from the cabinet to use for defense later, but he didn't have time to unscrew them. He could probably break off one of the pipes under the sink, but Jesse would definitely hear him. He decided the plunger was the best option, he'd just have to use the element of surprise. This was all so complicated, he seriously preferred his gun. 

He grabbed the plunger and waited quietly against the wall by the door. 

"What the hell is taking so long?" Jesse barged in, gun pointed out.

In one swift motion Snart brought the middle of the plunger shaft down onto his hands, knocking the gun to the floor. 

The Trickster lunged for the gun, but Snart grabbed his arm, twisted it and pinned him against the wall.

He stifled a groan as he was promptly met by a quick kick to the stomach. Jesse scrambled for the gun once again, but Snart grabbed him from behind and yanked him back. However Jesse was quick and he was still only inches from reaching the gun. 

Snart grabbed the plunger swiftly and brought it down hard on Jesse's head, effectively knocking him out cold, but if he had to guess based on how hard he hit him, it wouldn't be for long.

He snatched up the gun and looked down the hall to the front door. Where was Mardon? 

He held the gun out with his right hand and dragged Jesse by the arm with his other. God, the guy was heavy. The doors at the top and bottom of the staircase opened from the outside without a key. Snart pulled Jesse down the stairs and into the basement. 

Barry stood waiting for him, looking incredulous when he saw the Trickster. 

"I disarm people and steal stuff for a living remember?" Snart grinned.

"Alright, what's the plan then?" Barry asked.

Snart usually had these things mapped out to the second. But he didn't have that luxury this time around.

"Watch him, and yell for me when he wakes up, alright? I'm gonna look for the key."

Barry almost protested, but realized he couldn't help much with his hands restrained as they were. He gave a short nod.

"Where's Mardon?"

Snart looked up the stairs uneasily, "I don't know."

He ascended the stairs quickly and quietly, eyes alert and gun ready. 

He ran down the hall to the door Barry remembered entering through. Locked. 

There were several others doors lining the hall. The first few he tried led to empty rooms, void of anything useful. Just empty desks and chairs. He was starting to think this was most likely some abandoned office building. 

The third door was locked.

He thought about trying to kick it down, but was afraid that Mardon was somewhere nearby and might hear him. He ran his hand over the wood and leaned against it. It seemed sturdy, like it had been reinforced for the exact purpose of keeping people out. 

"Cold!" 

Snart turned to see Barry poking his head out from the stairs down the hall.

"He's waking up," he whisper-yelled.

Snart jogged down to see Jesse slumped against the wall, starting to rouse. 

In one fluid motion, he pulled him to his feet and pressed the gun to his head. 

"I'm gonna ask you this one time," Snart. "Where is the key to those cuffs?"

"They aren't here," Jesse laughed. 

Snart gripped his throat, "What do you mean they're not here?"

"Mardon- Mardon has them," he choked out.

"Where is he?" he demanded.

"He's out," Jesse forced.

Snart didn't have time to question the vagueness of that statement. 

"Where's my gun?" 

"It's not here either,"

"You're lying," Snart drawled coolly, pressing the gun further into Jesse's temple. "I feel like you're not getting the fact that I don't have a problem killing you right now. Where is my gun?"

Barry had to look away to prevent himself from stepping in. He watched the stairs for Mardon. Every instinct called him to interfere, to stop Cold from killing him, but he had more faith in him than that. He knew he wasn't a killer, especially when it wouldn't accomplish anything. No, even if he wanted to kill Jesse, Snart was too smart to let his emotions get in the way. 

Barry turned away from the stairs as he heard the sound of the barrel of the gun colliding with Jesse's head. Jesse collapsed to the floor. 

"He wouldn't talk, but Mardon's supposedly gone and we don't have time for an interrogation," Snart said quickly. 

He started heading up the stairs, "Come on, and shut this door up here behind you, it locks itself."

Barry reached the steps and Snart froze as he neared the top. "I heard a car or something outside, come on." 

He sprinted around the corner. 

Barry was about to pick up his pace, when something pulled him back. Jesse grabbed Barry's leg, and he collapsed forward onto the stairs. He mustered up as much strength as he could as he kicked Jesse in the face. 

"Barry?" Snart called from somewhere upstairs.

"Go!" He yelled back.

They didn't have time for Snart to come back and help him. Mardon was coming.

Snart heard the commotion- had Barry tripped, or had Jesse gone after him? Both seemed like plausible explanations. 

He didn't have time to think. Barry told him to go. He heard more sounds coming from outside- a car door closing? He ran to the door he'd come across earlier. 

He just needed his cold gun. That was all. 

He planted his left foot and kicked as hard as he could, but it didn't budge. He tried again, and he heard a crack somewhere in the frame. He didn't have time for this.

He went to kick again, but the front door opened. He swiveled quickly and aimed his gun at Mardon, who was looking back at him, both confusion and anger etched across his face.

But the next sound Snart heard made his stomach drop. Barry screamed from downstairs. He instinctively turned his head to look down the hall. 

He didn't have time to react as Mardon blew the gun out of his hand. 

"What the hell is going on?" Mardon yelled. 

Jesse emerged from the stairs and picked up the gun now laying on the tile. But Snart's eyes honed in on what was in his other hand. A knife. Covered in blood. 

"What did you do?" Snart hissed. 

He ran past the Trickster and headed down the stairs. Barry lay at the bottom. He heard the door slam shut behind, but the bickering between Mardon and Jesse he overheard faded quickly into the far distance as soon as he saw Barry's leg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block: 1  
> Me: 0
> 
> Also, if you comment, bookmark, kudos, and/or read any of this story, you're beautiful and I love you.


	7. Chapter 7

Iris was the one to realize something was wrong. She entered the kitchen after she got back from coffee with her father. They'd sat at Jitters for a couple hours before he headed off to work. She, on the other hand, then stayed for a couple more. She just wanted to think for a little while, to be alone.

"Barry? You home?" she called. 

He must've been at Star Labs, or running around the city somewhere doing Star Labs-related things. Which was basically all he ever did. 

She set her purse down on the counter and sighed. She felt so awful for her dad. You'd think after everything that happened over the past year, everyone would be used to surprises. But that wasn't how it worked and it didn't make them hurt any less.

She rolled her eyes at the plate of cookies left out on the table along with the ins laying on the floor. Did Barry just decide to speed off mid-cookie? 

She threw the floor cookie away, and grabbed one from the plate. It'd been a long day, and it was barely two in the afternoon.

Barry's cell phone caught her eye. It was sitting on the table next to the plate- but she didn't think Barry was home. He always kept his phone with him, given all the craziness he had to deal with on a daily basis. She dismissed it. Being the genius he was, Barry was seriously forgetful. 

She made herself a hot chocolate. Oliver and Felicity had sent them a ton of mix for the holidays. It was unbelievably good.

Although, Captain Cold was right, it wasn't the same without the mini marshmallows. 

Iris walked down the hall to her room, but paused at Barry's doorway. His sheets were askew and his blanket was halfway on the floor. 

Barry didn't leave his bed unmade. It took him two freaking seconds to do it. He had the same routine everyday. He'd get dressed and then wander into the kitchen for breakfast- or speed in, depending on how late he was running- and then he'd make his bed and finish get ready. In that order. 

You'd think a guy with such a perfected system could at least be on time every once in a while. 

The rest of his room was a mess, but that was typical- which Iris still really didn't understand, because seriously, of everyone in the world, he had it the easiest when it came to cleaning. 

She didn't think he was at work, his CSI badge was hanging in its usual spot on the by the door. 

She called the only other place he could be. 

"Caitlyn?" she asked. "Is Barry with you?"

"No, we haven't heard from him today. I was just about to call him," Caitlyn responded. "Why?"

"It's probably nothing," Iris tried not to jump to conclusions. "It's just he's not here, but his phone is. I'll call my dad, but I don't think he's at work either."

"Okay," Caitlyn said, sounding concerned. "We'll start looking. Just let me know what Joe says."

Iris hung up and called her dad, phone tucked between her ear and shoulder as she threw her stuff into her bag and grabbed her keys, anticipating the answer.

"Iris?" Joe answered. "Is everything okay?"

"Is Barry with you? Do you know where he is?" she asked quickly.

"No, I haven't seen him since I left this morning- Iris, what's wrong?" Joe replied.

"He's not here or with you and he isn't at STAR Labs. But his phone is here and he never leaves it," Iris rambled. "I'm heading to STAR Labs now."

"Alright, I'll meet you there," Joe said.

Iris threw Barry's phone into her bag too and headed quickly out to her car. 

She sped off to STAR Labs, watching for any blurs of scarlet throughout the city, turning instinctively to every red object that passed through her peripheral vision. Iris entered the building to see Caitlyn, Jay, Cisco, and Wells. 

The latter two appeared to be finishing up work on the "weather wand."

"I'm tracking any fluctuations in the electric field that may tell us where Barry is, any abnormalities in the atmosphere that could lead us to Mardon, and any other possible indicators of metahuman activity," Caitlyn said, typing furiously. 

Iris paced back and forth. She should've known something was wrong the second she saw his phone on the table. Maybe it was nothing. It could totally be nothing. He could've taken another impromptu trip to Star City, and just forgotten to tell them. She just didn't like the timing. Barry missing after his conversation with Cold last night made her feel uneasy. Not just that, though. Zoom was also a constant impending threat along with every other metahuman in this city- because holy hell, they just never stopped coming. 

"What's the word?" Joe asked, walking in briskly. 

Wells looked up from the wand, "Caitlyn's trying to locate both Barry and Mardon, who may have Barry. We're assuming if that's the case, the Trickster is most likely with him as well, from what Barry told us last night."

"What about Snart?" Joe asked.

"We have no way of locating Snart just yet. As far as I can tell, there haven't been any Captain-Cold-like robberies since Mardon broke him out," Caitlyn said. "Maybe he was telling Barry the truth." 

Joe shook his head, "No, I don't trust the guy."

"Hang on," Cisco said, plugging his phone into the computer, and dialing someone. "Caitlyn track the location when they answer."

"You have his number?" Iris asked. 

Cisco waved her off in irritation. 

"Hey, sorry I, uh...I didn't mean to call you...alright, if I'm being honest, I miss you," Cisco whispered into the phone. Iris made eye contact with Caitlyn, who shrugged and mirrored her look of confusion. "I think we should meet up sometime...just let me know...alright, I'll be waiting."

When Cisco looked up, everyone was staring at him. He felt very violated by their judge little eyes.

"It was Lisa!" he said. "I got the job done, didn't I? We find her, we can find Captain Cold. But for the record, I'm pretty sure she's innocent."

"If you trust her, why didn't you just ask her where she was?" Joe raised his eyebrow.

"Because no matter how much I think she's changed, she's always going to put her brother before us," Cisco sighed. "And we can't be sure Cold isn't behind this. Better safe than sorry."

Cisco, Wells and Joe hopped into the van. Cisco drove, though he didn't mind. Driving calmed his nerves. 

The address Caitlyn gave him took them to a little house on the outskirts of Central City. A safe house, he'd guess. Although a different one than he'd been in a year ago when they'd taken him and his brother. How many houses did these people have? 

They jumped out of the car, and just as Joe was about to kick the door in, Cisco stopped him. It was unlocked. 

Joe led the way, gun pointed out, followed by Harry, also armed. Cisco only had the new weather wand (which probably...most likely...worked) in his pocket. He trusted Lisa, he didn't trust anyone else who might be here. And besides, guns didn't stand a chance against metahumans, or any of the Rogues for that matter. But hey, if they made Joe and Harry feel safer, good for them.

They entered quietly and turned the corner to see Lisa standing at the kitchen on the phone. She turned to see them, and rolled her eyes. 

"Mick, I'm gonna have to call you back," she said.

She hung up the phone and and looked at the three of them with a serious lack of concern for the fact that two had guns pointed at her.

"Seriously Cisco?" she laughed, sitting down on the couch casually.

Wells took note of the gun is her holster. 

"I thought you were dead," she eyed Harrison. 

"It's a long story," Cisco said. 

"I've got things to do," she said, examining her gold manicure, "Let's make it snappy."

"Where's your brother?" Joe said firmly.

"Lenny hasn't come home since he went to talk to the Flash yesterday," Lisa glared. "I've been looking for him, but I've found nothing." She gestured to the empty house.

"How do we know she's telling the truth?" Wells looked at Joe.

"I trust her," Cisco said, motioning for them to lower their weapons. 

Wells waited for Joe's lead, who after a moment, reluctantly complied.

Lisa rolled her eyes. 

"Ba-The Flash is missing too," Cisco caught himself. Supposedly Snart hadn't yet told Lisa. Cisco'd already blown Barry's cover to a couple people, and he refused to let the next one be his fault. Although, at this point, he personally felt like half of Central City and Star City knew, so Barry really could just skip right to the big Miley-Hannah reveal. Think of how awesome that would be- they could all be like meta-celebrities. But, ya know, that wasn't his call. 

"I know what you're thinking, but my brother didn't take him," Lisa shook her head. "Based on what he told me yesterday, that weather dude and his friend are your best bet."

"Yeah, we know, he told us what Snart said," Joe interjected. "So what? You think he just ran off?"

"He had...plans this next week- here in Central City- which involved me, too," Lisa started.

"So robberies...can we-can we just clarify that you do mean robberies?" Cisco interrupted.

"Yes, Cisco," she answered, annoyed. "But my point is that he doesn't just bail on his plan. He schedules everything to the minute- to the second. He's not a just 'up-and-leave' kinda guy."

Wells sighed and turned away. "Caitlyn, have you got anything?"  
he asked over his earpiece.

"Not yet," she replied somberly.

He was so irritated, how was any of this accomplishing anything? Zoom was off getting stronger and what were they doing? 

Cisco looked back at Lisa. There was a look in her eyes that he'd seen before- back when she'd come to them for help when Lewis Snart got out of prison. 

"Alright, let's go," he said. "Until we know what's going on, it's probably in our best interest to work together."

They piled back into the STAR Labs van- Lisa included- and headed back.

When they walked in, Caitlyn was still monitoring the computer screen, and Iris was still pacing. 

"Captain Cold's missing too," Cisco said, as he entered followed closely by the other three. 

"I feel like I'm getting deja vu," Jay said, looking up from where he was leaning over Caitlyn's shoulder. "Didn't we help her find him like a couple months ago, when I first got here?"

"Yeah, we've got a sort of arrangement," Lisa smugged.

"Alright, Lisa tell us what you know," Caitlyn swiveled her chair to face the group. 

Lisa leaned back against the counter and began to recall what happened last night.

"All I know is that Len came home and told me that Mardon broke him and Jesse out of prison so they could all team up and kill the Flash. Obviously Lenny wasn't interested. Then he started talking about all the heists he had lined up for this week now that he was out of prison. But I interrupted him, because I can read him like a book," she laughed softly. "I told him that he was going to help the Flash, that I could tell. Eventually he left to go warn him, but he said that was all he would do."

Cisco believed her, and by the expression on Caitlyn's face, he was pretty sure she did too. Removing a bomb from someone's neck really did a lot for bonding. 

"None of this is going to help us find Barry," Wells declared in irritation. 

When Lisa looked at him, amusement clear on her face, the others realized his mistake.

"Dude, come on," Cisco glared. "You had one job."

"We expected to get through this entire conversation without ever saying his name?" Wells retorted. 

"Iris, you were there that night weren't you?" Caitlyn asked. "What exactly happened?"

She stopped her pacing and looked up. 

"He told Barry that Mardon and the Trickster were going to try to kill him," Iris recalled. "But then they had this little argument about why Snart was helping Barry, and Barry accused him of having 'honor' or something, and Snart just left. That was it."

"He's such a stubborn idiot," Lisa laughed. "It's not just 'honor,' he does care about the F-Barry. He's spent all of his life fending for himself because no one's ever cared enough to help him. But then Barry did. Even after Lenny betrayed him."

"You trying to tell me that Leonard Snart is now someone we should trust?" Joe asked skeptically. 

"Look, he's not some cold-blooded murderer. He has a code. Personally, I've never cared much for it," Lisa waved her hand casually. "But he doesn't shut up about it, and the biggest rule is 'Never leave a teammate behind.' And if Barry and Lenny are together right now, I promise you Barry won't be left behind."

"So what? Mardon and Jesse took both Snart and Barry?" Joe asked. 

"Honestly sounds like the most reasonable explanation right now," Cisco said. "I'd imagine they'd be pissed off if they found out he warned Barry."

"Guys?" Jay interrupted, looking at the monitor. "What the hell is that?"

Caitlyn swiveled back around to face the screen, which started blinking red. 

"Bad," she said, as she began typing once again. "That is bad. Cisco, get the wand."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you hate me for how long it took me to update?  
> I think you should. I really do.


	8. Chapter 8

So much blood. Too much blood. Snart knew it was too much blood. 

Crimson painted Barry's right thigh, soaked through his jeans and onto the floor. 

"Shit, kid," he said, kneeling down next to him. 

God, did the Trickster just knife it to shreds?

Barry wasn't saying anything discernible, but rather emitting a series of incoherent sounds and gasps, as he writhed on the concrete. 

Coming down the stairs and seeing all of the blood, Snart's first thought was that Jesse had cut his artery, but upon examination, he realized the injury was not close enough to his inner thigh. At least Barry had that going for him.

It appeared as if he had been slashed a couple of times, but the center wound looked deeper- stabbed. Although, it was hard to tell through the blood and the shredded denim. He wasn't the squeamish type, but oh, he was nauseous. 

"Hey," he said quickly, lightly grabbing Barry's wrist, "Just breathe, okay, kid? Barry?"

Snart tore the jeans back around the wound, which was easy because they'd already been sliced through. Barry flinched at the touch, head strained back, teeth clenched. 

He needed to stop the blood.

"I need a first aid kit!" Snart pounded his fist against the door. 

He knew they hadn't planned on killing him. Mardon didn't, at least. Jesse was just a psychopath.

"Don't you get it?" Snart yelled. "He's not healing!"

He kneeled back down beside Barry. 

The door flew open and several items clattered to the floor as Mardon tossed them in. 

"Only because I don't want him to die yet," Mardon growled emphasizing the last word. 

"How kind of you," Snart said with malice. 

But Mardon was gone just as fast as he'd come. 

Snart quickly observed what he'd been given to work with: two towels, and a battered, half-empty first-aid kit. He opened it up to find several smaller band-aides, hydrogen peroxide, and a large roll of gauze. 

He grabbed the towel and began to press down on Barry's leg to stop the flow. 

Barry bit down on his lip and squeezed his fists to keep from squirming away. 

So much pain. Too much pain. He felt like his leg was on fire. The pain had grown as the adrenaline had quickly worn off. 

Pain, shooting, burning. White hot pain. It ebbed and flowed through his leg, coming back in spurts, sending him into panic all over again, gasping and crying out. He was beginning to feel light-headed.

He focused on trying to calm his breathing, as he felt Snart pressing down harder on his leg. He'd looked away a while ago, and he couldn't bring himself to look back. After what seemed like hours, he felt the pressure leave his leg. 

Snart was able to stop most of of the bleeding. Once the towel had soaked up the majority of the blood, he grabbed the bottle of peroxide.

"Barry, I have to clean it," Snart's voice sounded distant and yet loudly magnified all at the same time. 

Snart took the towel off of Barry's leg. The peroxide wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. He unscrewed the cap on the bottle, and then poured some into it. He dipped the edge of the clean cloth into the cap. 

"Barry?" 

"Jus' go" he groaned.

The second the cloth touched his skin, Barry let out a choked cry, teeth clenched, breathing quickly in and out, and he jerked his leg away from him.

Snart stabilized his leg with his other hand and resumed cleaning the outsides of the wounds. He worked quickly, as Barry involuntarily squirmed under his touch. 

In between gasps, Snart definitely thought he could make out some obscenities being thrown out.

As he finished cleaning the wound he grabbed the gauze and unrolled it, wrapping it tightly several times around Barry's leg until he thought it was enough to hold the blood. 

Barry's breathing began to slow down, as he gazed up at the ceiling, eyes finally open, though only halfway. 

Snart rested his hands on his knees and sighed. He looked Barry over. He was a complete mess- his skin still pale and bruised, his leg haphazardly bandaged up, blood on his jeans, cuts on his face, and welts on his arms. His cuffs were beginning to chafe his wrists even worse. 

Cuffs. He was handcuffed. He was handcuffed and unarmed. Yet Jesse had turned his leg into a cutting board. First, he'd get the kid out of there. Then he'd kill those two bastards himself. 

Barry noticed him looking and met his eyes finally. 

"I'm fine," he said, though his strained voice betrayed him, along with the dried tears on his face that had slipped past his eyes. 

Not that Len would've believed him anyway. 

"Yeah, you look like you're in top condition," Snart nodded. 

Barry tried to sit up, groaning loudly. He began to try to use his other leg to scoot back to the wall, but made it about two inches before pain shot through his leg- more than it already was. His bit his lip and stifled a cry.

"Allen, what the hell are you doing?" Cold shook his head. "Cut it out, you were just fucking stabbed, lay back down."

Barry slowly lowered himself back down in frustration. 

Even with the pain aside, this was the absolute worst. Not only could he no longer move fast, but now he couldn't move at all. Never had he ever felt so helpless. It made him so angry. 

But it was fine, because he now had what felt like a fiery inferno in his leg to distract from thinking too much about it. God, it hurt- it really hurt.

Cold balled up the cleaner of the two towels, trying to get most of the blood on the inside, and prompted Barry to lift his head, creating a makeshift pillow. 

"Thank you," Barry said, after a while. 

Snart looked away. "Yeah, well we can't escape if you're injured."

"Why do you do that?" Barry turned his head back to him, a hint of anger in his voice. 

"Do what?" 

"Act like you don't care about anything, when you do," Barry stated, annoyance growing. 

"For someone whose leg I just bandaged up, you're not very grateful," he quipped. 

Barry didn't have the energy to argue, so he simply began to roll his eyes as the dizziness returned and took him back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyyy an update that didn't take forever.
> 
> It pained me to write this chapter though.


	9. Chapter 9

The screen had lit up like a Christmas tree at the location of the Central City Bank. That place had taken more hits lately than the rest of the city combined. 

"Let's go," Cisco said, weather wand in hand, headed back out to the van. 

"We can't take down Mardon without Barry," Caitlin interjected. 

"We have to try," Jay nodded, followed by Joe and Wells.

They all turned their heads at the sound of Lisa's golden gun powering on. 

"I want answers," she said, gun out of the holster and ready to go.

"Go," Iris said, sitting down next to Caitlyn, and tossing each of them an earpiece. 

"So am I really going to be the one with the weapon, or..?" Cisco asked, holding up the wand from the driver's seat. 

"Give me that," Harry snatched it. "Drive."

Cisco floored it all the way to the bank, dodging the people that were fleeing in all directions. The sky was black, as the strong winds blew eerily. The front glass wall of the bank was busted open completely. 

"Caitlin, this is not good," Cisco said as he slammed the car door.

As soon as they reached the entrance, Mardon spun around, lightning crackling above him, and a duffel bag- presumably full of money- in his hand.

Mardon gestured welcomingly. "What took you so long?"

Hail began to fly at them from various angles. 

Cisco and Lisa ducked behind a desk. 

Joe tried to fire his gun from behind a column, but Mardon sidestepped. In retaliation, he sent sharp shards of ice his way, causing him to duck back behind the marble. 

Wells was hit with a block of ice and sent onto his back. He tossed the wand to Jay.

"Hey, careful with that!" Cisco chastised. 

Jay emerged from behind the second column, wand in hand. As he began to siphon the electricity from the air, Mardon quickly put a stop to it with a streak of lightning to Jay's chest. The wand hit the ground with a clatter. 

"Jay!"

Lisa sprung and before Mardon could react, her gun was pressed against the back of his head. But the Weather Wizard just laughed. 

"We both know you're not going to shoot me," he said. 

Lisa's hand shook on the trigger. "And why is that?"

"I think you know," Mardon smiled. "Your brother says hello. So does Barry. But if you shoot me right now, my partner has orders to kill them both before you'll ever find them."

The room was silenced as he said Barry's name.

She slowly lowered her gun, which Mardon quickly grabbed from her hand. He trained it on her as he slowly made his way towards the entrance. 

Thunder roared overheard as lightning struck, and the remaining windows all shattered at once.

Everybody hit the floor, shielding themselves from the glass. 

Cisco crawled to Jay to check if he was okay. He groaned and rolled over. 

"I'm good," he nodded. 

Lisa scooped up her gun from the floor.

"Where'd he go?" Wells asked as they all ran back out the entrance. 

"Oh my god, I see him," Cisco pointed to a speck in the distance. 

"He can fly?" Jay asked incredulously.

Cisco watched the Wizard wide-eyed. "Well, he's using his powers to alter the air pressure around him to create pockets of updraft that can..."

"He can fly," Wells cut him off. 

"He's headed northeast," Caitlin said, following the change in atmospheric pressure. 

"Get in the car," Cisco said to the team. "Caitlin, where is he?" 

"I-I don't know," she hesitated. "He must be back on the ground now, I can't find him. I tried to hack into the street cams, but I don't see him."

CCPD cars were lining the streets. Captain Singh jogged over once he saw Joe. Patty was also already at the scene canvassing. 

Joe signaled for them to go without him. He watched them leave in the general direction that Mardon had.

"Mark Mardon's back?" Singh asked. "Or is it Clyde this time? Because everybody really seems to like coming back from the dead somehow."

"It's Mark Mardon. STAR Labs is on it, sir," Joe answered. 

Singh ran a hand over his face, "They better be...where's Allen?"

Joe hesitated. He'd been wondering what he was going to tell the captain. Telling the police Barry was missing wasn't going to help them at all, this wasn't a job for them. Plus, Barry was missing and so was the Flash- people were probably already questioning why he wasn't at the bank today. He didn't want them making connections. 

But he couldn't see any alternative. If Barry- God forbid it- was gone for even a week, the station was going to start asking questions.

"I don't know, sir," he said. "No one's seen him since this morning."

"Really?" Singh was surprised. "Okay, well I'll call him, but keep me posted on that."

"Will do, sir," Joe said as he walked away.

He looked at the scene once more. The sky was growing dark- and not artificially this time, but because it was getting late. It'd been a long day. Mardon had done a lot of damage. Ambulances were rushing injured civilians to the hospital, though he thankfully hadn't seen any deaths yet. Damn, this city needed Barry.

It was clear what Mardon was trying to do. Keep them busy and distracted, so they'd be less successful in finding Barry- in finding his son. He was sure of it. This was all just a diversion. 

Joe walked the few blocks back to STAR Labs, as it really began to sink in that Barry was gone. It hurt. Before, there had been a slight chance that maybe he was okay. That he really was just in Star City or on a long run. Joe knew those were just delusions- denial. But Mardon had just confirmed what he feared and that made it so much more real. 

He was livid, and every part of him wanted to beat the living crap out of Mardon and Jesse right this very moment, but anger wasn't the strongest emotion he felt. No, he felt guilty that he'd let this happen. He felt pissed off that they couldn't catch a break. But mostly he just felt scared. Scared for Barry, scared for his son. 

When he got back to STAR Labs, everyone else was already waiting for him. Apparently they'd had no luck tracking Mardon.

The room was silent. Iris, Caitlin and Cisco sat at the computers, and the others were lounged around, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts. 

"Get some sleep," Joe announced. "It's been a long day. We can't help Barry if we're tired."

"You guys can crash here if you want," Cisco said. "I think we have some blow up mattresses."

Wells had already retreated to his little makeshift office. Though if past history was any indication, Cisco was sure he'd stay up late running new Zoom-related equations until he finally got about two hours of sleep. No wonder he was always so grumpy. 

Iris was already grabbing a spare STAR Labs sweatshirt. How many of those things did they have? 

"I'm gonna take you up on that," Joe said. "I'm exhausted and tomorrow's Christmas Eve, so until there's an emergency, I've got the day off." 

He wasn't going to leave Iris here. She put on a brave face, and she was more than capable of handling herself, but he knew she was hurting too.

"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve," she laughed half-heartedly, grabbing two air mattresses, as she and Joe began to set them up near the med bay. 

"Why's that funny?" Joe asked.

"Just doesn't feel like it," she smiled softly.

He smiled back, and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. "We'll get him back. I promise."

Once everyone had settled in, Cisco noticed Caitlin was basically falling asleep at the keyboard. 

"Caitlin," he tapped on her shoulder. "I'll switch you out, go get some rest."

She gratefully obliged, and headed down the hall. She, Barry, and Cisco each had their own little rooms to crash in, which had slowly built up over time. Cisco's had gone from just a blanket and some pillows to a full-blown dorm decorated with posters and a equipped with a mini-fridge. Although, they'd given Jay a room too, and Cisco would be lying if he said he didn't secretly wonder if Caitlin spent some nights there instead.

"You guys have slumber parties a lot?" Lisa asked, plopping into the chair next to Cisco. 

He laughed. "Oh yeah definitely, superhero sleepovers." 

She smiled. A sincere smile, which Cisco didn't think he'd seen all day. 

"Jay and Wells usually crash here, since they're from Earth Two," he started. "Which doesn't really mean anything to you. Basically they're homeless, so..."

Lisa nodded. "What about you?"

"Caitlin, Barry, and I stay the night sometimes, if one of us is here late working," he answered. "Dude, I should just move in, I'd save a ton of money on rent."

She laughed again. 

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

She sighed, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear, "No."

"I get it," he nodded, recalling a certain two siblings and their hot-headed friend taking his brother a year back. 

"I'm sorry we did that to you," she said, reading his mind. "I guess this is karma."

"Hey, it's in the past," Cisco shook his head. "It's okay."

And he meant it. He'd forgiven her for that a long time ago. 

Lisa nodded, yawning. "I'm glad. You know, you're a real dick for making me apologize, it doesn't happen often." 

"I try," Cisco chuckled.

After turning back to watch the monitor for a little while, he looked over to find she was asleep, sprawled across the desk.

He carefully placed a blanket over her and looked around the room. He was glad he offered up the place for them to stay the night. So many people. And they were all there for one thing- to get Barry- and Snart- back. Sure, there was safety in numbers, but there was also comfort- and that was bittersweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started writing a Barry and Len chapter, but then I realized it would make more sense to write this chapter first. So basically (in theory) it shouldn't take as long for the next chapter to go up, because it's already halfway written haha.
> 
> Thank you for putting up with me and my unreliable-ness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I'm gonna upload the next chapter faster.  
> Life: Lol. You thought. 
> 
> Also this chapter gets a little bloody again, so just a warning. It hurt me to write it :(
> 
> Also the note at the end may have spoilers if you're not caught up, so don't read if you're behind.

"Get up," Mardon announced, entering the room, kicking the first aid kit aside. 

Snart was jerked from his slumber. Apparently Barry and him had both fallen asleep. 

A piece of ice hit the wall behind Snart's head. 

"Now," Mardon growled. 

Barry lifted his head and mentally recoiled at the sight of him. 

"You're even dumber than I thought you were if you think he can walk on that leg," Snart glared.

Another shard of ice shattered against the wall behind him, followed by one hitting the concrete floor next to Barry's head. Yeah, he was pissed.

Snart moved to help Barry up. He was livid that Mardon actually expected the kid to move, let alone walk. But he also knew that they didn't have the upper hand in the current situation, and Mardon didn't really seen susceptible to reason. So compliance was their best option. Play it cool now, slash their throats later. 

"I'm fine," Barry said, groaning as he sat up.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, looping his arm under Barry's, supporting his weight, and helping him onto his feet- well, foot. 

Barry lurched as he tried to stand up, Cold catching him. He held up most of Barry's weight every time he stepped forward with his right leg. He was surprised though. For being so tall, he was pretty light. 

They made their way, slowly but surely, to the stairs. Mardon was waiting at the top impatiently.

"He can't go up the stairs, thanks to your partner," Snart remarked. 

Mardon ignored them and turned the corner. Barry looked uneasily at the steps. Snart took matters into his own hands, scooping him up in one quick motion.

He grimaced at the pain in his leg, and by the time he began to protest, Snart was already setting him down at the top.

Barry's head was down as he steadied his breathing. He nodded to Snart and they limped into the room that Mardon directed them to. There were two chairs facing each other on opposite sides of the small space, and a long desk with several computers all hooked up to a larger screen on the far wall. Clearly the Trickster had rewired this abandoned building with some new tech. 

Jesse turned from the monitor and smiled at them. 

Barry and Snart were each forced into a chair. Mardon tied Snart's wrists to the chair arms- unnecessarily tightly, he might add- and his ankles to the legs.

Barry's hands were still cuffed, but Jesse tied his ankles to the chair as well. 

Barry didn't like the way his eyes lingered on the bloody bandage around his thigh- the glimpse of pride he thought he saw in them made him sick.

"I'm trying to decide what to do with you Barry," Mardon mused, leaning back against the desk. "Do I out your identity in front of everyone and then kill you for the whole city to see?"

"What if we hand him over to the highest bidder?" the Trickster intervened, smiling at Barry. "There's a lot of meta-humans he's pissed off." 

"That's true. But first I think it's time we set up a little video chat with Joe, and your friends at Star Labs," Mardon said. "Jesse knows how to to broadcast straight to them without them being able to track us. We're just not quite ready for a public broadcast yet, I don't think."

"Don't," Barry said as unshakily as he could given the circumstances. 

He wasn't sure what their intentions were, but he was certain they weren't good for him or his friends.

"Shut him up," he nodded to Barry. 

Snart watched uneasily as Jesse produced a roll of duct tape and proceeded to covered Barry's mouth, despite his protests. 

"Him too," he gestured to Snart. The Trickster complied, though Leonard shot him icy daggers with his glare.

"Oh, and by the way, I stopped by the Central City Bank yesterday and...made a withdrawal," Mardon smirked. "And all of your friends were there, we had a good time."

Barry grew furious. Central City was his city to protect. And he wasn't there to protect it. He let them down. He began to panic, he needed to know if they were all okay. 

Once again he felt helpless. His family. His friends. His city. All under attack and there was nothing he could do. And he felt guilty. 

Snart saw Barry instantly react to Mardon's news. He watched the kid try to give the Wizard a menacing glare, but Len saw the hurt and the fear behind his eyes. 

"Your sister's so nice," Mardon turned to Snart. "Personally I think her gun's even cooler than yours."

Snart visibly stiffened. Lisa? Lisa was off the table. He thought he'd made that crystal clear. He was going to kill them. Granted, he'd already vowed to do that, but they just kept increasing his eagerness.

The Trickster messed around with the computer, and suddenly the inside of STAR Labs was on the screen.

Barry felt a rush of so many mixed emotions when he saw Cisco.

"Oh my god," Cisco's face lit up with shock, then anger, then pain. "Guys!"

One by one, Joe, Iris, Caitlin, Jay, Wells and Lisa Snart joined him, their expressions all matching Cisco's. They took in the sight of Barry, bloody and bruised, in dismay.

"Barry," Joe said, in disbelief. "Mardon, I swear to God."

"He's hacked in so they can see us through the computer cam too," Cisco said quietly. "Like a video chat."

"Hey, Detective West, I was hoping you'd be here," Mardon interrupted. "Oh and Lisa, too? We've got the whole gang."

Barry felt strangely happy and relieved to see their faces again. He tried to conceal the pain he was feeling, because he could tell it was hurting them. Joe's hands were shaking and Iris already had tears in her eyes. He forced a reassuring look. He just wanted them to know he'd be okay. Because he would. He knew he would. 

By the lighting of the room, he'd say it was around noonish. So that was good, because to be honest, he had no clue. 

He saw Lisa smile a little, and looked over at Snart to see why- he looked as smug and annoyed as ever- like the entire situation was no big deal, just a waste of his time. 

"See, I'm actually a little mad at them right now, because they tried to escape," Mardon said, giving Jesse a nod. 

He walked over to Barry, circling him, and as soon as Barry saw the Trickster pull out the knife, he could feel his blood run cold. The pain in his leg screamed at him, telling him to get away. 

Without warning, he felt the cold blade press against his skin, and suddenly the Trickster dug the knife in, dragging it slowly from his shoulder down to his elbow. 

Barry squinted his eyes shut as he tensed up. 

"Stop!" Caitlin yelled.

Blood cascaded down his forearm.

Cisco choked out what they'd all been thinking, "Why isn't he healing?"

The Trickster forcibly lifted up the handcuffs, jerking Barry's arms with them. 

"These are a new little gizmo of mine," Jesse smiled. "They've taken away his powers."

Barry didn't see their reaction to this new information- his eyes were still closed.

Barry held his breath as Jesse repeated this on his other arm. Then twice more on each. He could faintly hear his friends protesting.

By the end he was yelling out quietly, though barely heard through the tape. He tried to control his breathing, and lifted his head back up.

He glared at Jesse with every fiber of his being. He would not break in front of his family. He needed them to have hope. And if a look of defiance and hatred while he looked like a bleeding mess was all he could do, he'd take it.

He saw Jesse move to Snart. His stomach dropped, as he watched the blade meet Snart's collarbone. He couldn't watch it. He focused on his breathing as he stared at the floor tiles. 

He never heard him make a sound. When Lisa's protests died down, he finally looked back up. The top of his arms, which were tied down, were bloody. The initial cut on his collarbone was as well. And there was one lone cut across his cheek.

"Barry's not healing," Caitlin pleaded, as soon as everything died back down. "I don't know what you did to his leg, but if you keep it up, you're going to kill him. Please."

"Why shouldn't I kill him?" the Weather Wizard asked, tone shifting quickly to anger as he looked at Joe. "Like you killed my brother."

"That's not his fault- it's mine, okay?" Joe pleaded. "He's just a kid Mardon."

Mardon laughed as walked over to the computer. "He's not much younger than Clyde was."

"Barry, we're com-"

The transmission was cut off. 

"I've got plans to make and a city to ravage," Mardon said, strolling past Barry.

Barry yelled through the tape in protest. 

"Maybe I'll meet up with your friends again soon," Mardon leaned down to whisper into his ear. "I went rather easy on them yesterday. I'd love to see how well they can defend themselves without their Flash to protect them."

With that, the pair strode out of the room.

Barry began to thrash in his chair, pulling at the cuffs, at the leg restraints. His movements were spastic, as he furiously tried to free himself. 

Snart tried to yell through the tape, but Barry was non-responsive. He quickly maneuvered his mouth to get it off. He was in a dangerous line of work, it was definitely not his first time. 

"Kid, stop," Snart urged, alarmed. He'd never seen him like this. 

"Scarlet!"

Still no response, as he continued to twist and turn, screaming out both in frustration and pain. Snart looked at the bandage on his leg, concerned he might agitate it and lose more blood. 

"Barry!"

Barry's eyes finally met his. They were filled with pain. Somehow the fire was still there, but it wasn't the same. It was raging, fueled by hurt and anger. It was a wildfire. 

"Listen to me, okay?" he started. "I know you think that whatever happens to Central City while you're here is your fault. I know you've got this goddamn hero complex or whatever, and you think it's your job to save everybody, but this is not your fault."

Barry just shook his head solemnly. 

"You're friends are going to be okay," Snart tried to sound convincing. "They're pretty bad ass for a bunch of lab geeks."

Barry smiled a little. Len couldn't see his mouth, but he could tell from his eyes. 

"I told you I was going to get us out of here. And I meant it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *possible spoilers?* also btw I don't know like wtf is going on with Jay like I have theories and whatnot but for the purposes of this story he's not evil.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> life is kicking my ass right now let me tell ya.
> 
> Enjoy!

Lisa watched the way Lenny radiated anger as Barry was being attacked. He never looked away. 

Only a few times had she ever seen him that angry. But that was a long time ago. And the look was directed at their father. And she was the one getting hurt. 

Muffled shouts of protest escaped his gag. His icy blue eyes were cold enough to kill. 

Earlier, he'd acted like he didn't even give a shit. It had even made her smile a little. She never thought she'd be so happy to see that cold facade she was always mad at him for hiding behind. 

She could sense the pain filling the room as they watched Barry being tortured. 

Though he'd saved her life, she hardly knew him. But it still upset her deeply. No, he didn't deserve anything close to this. He was the last person who could ever deserve it. 

But it was when Jesse moved to her brother that she lost it. She yelled in anger- pure anger. She could feel Cisco's hand resting on her shoulder. Lenny didn't yell or cry. He simply glared at the Trickster, wincing quietly at each new cut. 

The situation was all too familiar. Suddenly she was eight years old again watching events unfold in the dingy, old, familiar hallway that an eight year old girl should never see. 

When he stopped, she felt herself exhale a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Len's facial expression hadn't changed. She felt proud of the look of rage he was concentrating on the Trickster.

"If you keep it up, you're going to kill him." Caitlin said, voice breaking. 

Lisa looked at Barry again. She was right, he did not look good. She'd seen that he was bruised and cut up. But upon further examination he looked absolutely awful.

"Barry, we're coming!" Cisco yelled. 

But the screen went black before he could finish. 

Iris walked away quickly, and Joe immediately followed her. 

Lisa saw tears in her eyes that mirrored the ones she'd just wiped away from her own. 

"Barry's gonna be okay, alright?" Cisco said, talking to no one in particular. "He's always okay."

Caitlin looked like she might be sick. Jay was consoling her softly. But Lisa wondered if he was doing so to calm himself down as well, because a minute ago, he looked more pissed off than what seemed natural for him. 

"Cisco, can you track the call?" Harry asked. 

"I'm already on it," he said, typing away. 

Harry paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair, a visual representation of the panic filling the room.

"Guys, I can't pinpoint their location. Apparently they know what they're doing. Where's Felicity when we need her?"

Caitlin turned to Cisco, face lighting up slightly. 

"Cisco, why haven't we called them?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. 

"I-I don't know, I guess we've just been busy with all this," he replied.

"If there's ever been a time to ask for their help, it's now," she said, quickly heading away to make the call. 

"Superhero team-up," Cisco said, smirking slightly as he nodded.

He was met with an awfully judgmental look from Wells.

"I mean, obviously I'm not happy...given the circumstances," he grimaced. "...But the Green Arrow is pretty dope."

His usual enthusiasm was absent from his voice. Lisa smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood.

"Alright, everybody listen," Cisco said, standing up. "Yo, listen up!"

Silence filled the room as everyone turned to him. He looked around and took in all of their pained faces.

"Did you guys see Barry after...after what the Trickster did?" Cisco started. "Did you see his face? He did not look hurt. Physically, yes, but his eyes didn't show pain. He looked pissed off, okay? Like he's ready to run circles around those sons of bitches until they die. He's holding on. He's strong. Honestly, he's probably stronger than all of us combined. Right now, he needs our help. He's in trouble, but his face didn't look like the face of any normal person who was just kidnapped by two psychopaths." 

Lisa saw Cisco's hand shaking a little as he raised it in gestures. She attributed it to the adrenaline. 

"He believes that he is going to be okay. And we need to believe it, too," he finished.

Iris wiped away a stray tear.

"Cisco, that's the least ridiculous thing you've ever said," she laughed softly.

Cisco smiled at the slightly uplifted faces surrounding him. Then he stepped dramatically up onto the desk and looked down at them. 

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, shaking his head. 

"Well- I uh...I was kinda going for like an 'Oh captain, my captain' kinda moment," he explained. "You know, like Dead Poets Society?"

He was responded to with several eye rolls as they walked away. "Okay...yeah, no, not the time for that, got it. I got carried away!" He called after them.

•••

Snart had told Barry how to get the duct tape off his mouth. It wasn't even that difficult, which made him feel like every movie and TV show he'd ever seen was a lie. 

"Thanks," he said, when the tape finally came off, and fell to the floor.

"Yeah, just consider it a Christmas present," Snart laughed. 

"Is it Christmas?"

"It's Christmas Eve," he answered. "I'd give you an exact time, but sleeping tends to make a person lose track. I'm good, but I'm not that good."

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Count exact minutes and hours. I feel like I'd just get distracted after like 5 minutes," Barry said.

"Takes practice," Snart answered.

"When did you learn?" 

He hesitated, "As a child."

Barry saw the hesitation. But he didn't press. He had suspicions, but for once he didn't act on them. For now, he let it go.

Len had studied his reaction. He knew what Barry wanted to ask. 

"Don't make me come over there and put the tape back on, kid," Snart said cooly. 

"Would you stop calling me that?" 

"Sure, when you look like you're old enough to go to an R-rated movie," Snart quipped.

"I'm twenty-five," Barry said, irritated. 

He thought about it, "Only if you stop calling me Snart."

"That's your name?" Barry raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, well you look like a kid," he retorted. "Call me Leonard, or Len, or Cold, I don't care. Just stop calling me Snart." 

"Deal," Barry sighed. 

His voice was even raspier than before and Len didn't like it. 

The Trickster barged into the room. Barry had never thought he'd actually be happy to see him- but he was carrying a white bag from Big Belly Burger and two water bottles. He hadn't even realized until then how hungry he was, but he figured that was due to all the other crap occupying his concern at the moment. 

"Oh, you're too kind," Snart drawled as Jesse set the contents down on the floor. 

"If you starved, that would be so boring," Jesse replied, untying Snart's hands. "I'd warn you not to do anything stupid, but if you did, that means ol' Markie would be pissed and I'd get to have even more fun with you later. So do as you like."

The way he said the word 'fun' gave Barry chills.

"How's the leg, Flash?" 

"Fuck you," Barry spat as he watched the Trickster disappear behind the door. 

Snart raised his eyebrows. 

"Scarlet, are feeling okay?" he asked, feigning concern. "Such colorful language."

"Seriously?" Barry responded in annoyance.

"It's just a little different from your usual 'love everyone and do no evil' routine," Snart smirked. 

Barry rolled his eyes as Len undid his own leg restraints and then moved to untie his. 

Barry moved to get up but Len held out his hand to stop him. 

"Yeah, you still look like death, so you're not getting up," he said, pulling a wrapped burger from the bag and handing it to him, along with a water bottle. 

Barry looked Snart over as he tore the cap off of his water. 

"You don't look too great yourself," he retorted, referring to the cuts caked in dried blood littering his body. 

Barry drank half of the water bottle before Len even got his open. It wasn't even cold, but he definitely did not care.

Then he ripped into his burger. It tasted like heaven. Greasy, heart attack-inducing heaven. 

"I feel full," Barry said thoughtfully once he'd finished his meal. 

"Congratulations," Len responded, still finishing his burger. 

"I never feel full," Barry laughed quietly. "My metabolism is so sped up that I have to take in an insane amount calories a day, and even then I'm never completely full. So it's weird."

Snart nodded, looking somewhat interested. Not fake interest- real interest. 

"So faster healing, unlimited food intake- what else can you do?" he asked, balling up the wrapper of his burger and tossing it to the side.

A small smirk spread across Barry's face, "I can throw lightning." 

Snart nodded, looking impressed. 

"And I can phase through things...I can basically fly like if I move my arms fast enough- that's a personal favorite...I've traveled back in time," he listed. 

"Alright, enough, show-off," Snart chuckled, taking another swig of water. 

Barry's laughter died down slowly, and seemed to become tinged subtly with sadness. 

Hearing him talk about his powers reminded Len of the great, heroic protector of Central City that was the Flash- a sharp contrast from what he saw before him. Maybe not in spirit- but physically. 

All of a sudden, Barry was out of his chair faster than Snart could protest. 

"Hey, what-"

"The computer!" He said, limping quickly towards the desk against the wall. 

He leaned against the desk for support and began typing. 

"You're gonna contact STAR Labs," Snart realized, smiling. 

"Yeah, but it's all password-protected and high-tech," he said. "And I'm not as good at this as Caitlin and Cisco."

Len watched as numbers and letters and codes flooded the screen and Barry typed rapidly, with absolutely no idea what was going on. This was what he considered 'not being good at it?' This was why Len broke into places the old-fashioned way. 

Barry groaned in frustration, following a loud beep emitted by the computer. 

"What's wrong?" Len asked, checking over his shoulder, paranoid they might've heard. 

"I'm trying to figure out how to send out a signal, but I can't access the server because I don't have the password, so I'm trying to bypass and get around that, but it's not working," he rambled. "And I can't process as fast as I usually can."

Snart had no idea how to help with that. 

"Just go listen at the door and see if they're coming," Barry said, eyes glued to the screen. 

Snart obliged, but only made it halfway across the room before the door swung open. Barry heard and jumped away from the computer. Or rather, lurched. 

But Jesse and Mardon stood in the doorway, and they'd seen enough. 

Mardon immediately thrusted Snart back into his chair, shocking him quickly with electricity. It only lasted for a second, but that was the first time he'd experienced that. And damn, it wasn't pleasant. 

In his brief moment of shock, the Trickster had quickly begun tying his hands down. 

Len looked over to see that Barry had already been restrained by Mardon. He was breathing heavily, and Len guessed he'd been shocked, too. 

When the Trickster moved to tie his ankles down, he kicked him in the chest, attempting to stand up quickly. Jesse yelled in irritation. 

"Hey!" Mardon yelled.

Snart looked over to see him pulling Barry's head back slightly with a firm grip on his hair with one hand- and holding a very sharp piece of ice to Barry's throat with the other. 

"You're not going to kill him," Len said, matter-of-factly.

Mardon pressed the shard further into Barry, and he cringed slightly, though for the most part he just looked incredibly pissed off. 

"Why don't you try me?" Mardon growled. "Because I could easily kill both do you right now."

Thunder echoed overhead and lightning danced around the room as if to prove his point. 

Len glared as he let the Trickster restrain him. He could hear his sister's voice in his head telling him to pick his battles. Mardon's voice brought him back.

"Who did you contact?" he yelled.

"Your mother," Snart smirked. 

Mardon launched what felt like hundreds of small shards of ice at him. He felt their sharp points piercing his skin. He closed his eyes. They didn't cut him enough to draw blood, but they stung. 

A large chunk of ice impacted his stomach, eliciting a groan of pain. 

"Try again!" Mardon yelled. 

"No, I'm serious, so if we could just finish this up, because she wants to meet up with me again," Snart taunted. 

Anger swarmed in Mardon's eyes. He quickly created an icicle sharp enough to function as a dagger. 

Len braced himself for a blow that didn't come. When he looked back up, Mardon shot the dagger into Barry's shoulder. Snart watched it plunge about an inch deep. 

Barry cried out, not expecting the attack. 

He looked at Snart again and asked at a chillingly slow pace, "Who did you contact?"

"No one," he growled. 

Mardon twisted the ice dagger, and Len could've sworn that when Mardon touched it, he saw the surface crystallize further, as if he'd made it even colder. 

"We didn't get it to work," Barry turned to face him angrily. 

"He's telling the truth- he couldn't get in," the Trickster confirmed, turning away from the computer.

Len wondered if he'd actually just figured that out now, or if the sadistic psychopath just wanted to watch the scene play out a little longer. 

Mardon forcefully pulled the dagger out. 

Barry gasped quietly, his shoulder bleeding.

Mardon began to walk slowly towards the center of the room. 

"Alright. Here's how this is going to work...you do anything stupid again, and it gets taken out on him," Mardon said to Snart. "For example- attempting to break out-"

He shot a quick bolt of lightning into Barry, who winced in pain, clenching his fists. It was too ironic. Torturing the Flash with lightning. He wondered how much more he could take today without passing out. 

"Stop," Snart said.

"Or contacting your friends," Mardon said casually, maintaining eye contact with Snart as he sent another current into the Flash. 

"Leave him alone," he said slowly. 

"Or talking back."

Another. 

Snart glared at Mardon, but stopped himself from saying anything. 

Mark swiveled around to face Barry. "So we're at an understanding?" 

"Go to hell," Barry rasped, breathing labored. 

"It works both ways," Mardon smiled, flicking his wrist. 

Snart groaned as he felt the electricity surge through him. But the thing that hurt more was look in Barry's eyes as he lifted his head back up. He was still breathing heavily, yet guilt mingled with hatred in his tired, worn eyes. Selfless, heroic bastard.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm back *laughs awkwardly*  
> college is difficult...
> 
> plot twist: the next chapter is actually already almost done

Three days later, they were back in the basement they were originally in. They'd been moved back shortly after the incident with the computer. It was colder and darker. But they weren't tied down anymore, so they appreciated that. Although, "appreciated" seemed too nice of a word. 

Christmas had passed. Though, without gifts or a tree it simply didn't even register. Cold mentioned it halfway through the day. Barry gave a nod of acknowledgement and neither brought it up again. Maybe because neither really wanted to think about how this was by far the worst Christmas ever. At least, it was for Barry and he'd assumed it was the same for Snart. 

Christmas night though, Barry woke up to a scream. 

It was Snart. He was tossing and turning, clearly having a nightmare. He yelled out again. Not so much fear...more like anger. 

"Cold!" he tried to grab his shoulder.

But he continued to thrash until he broke free. 

"Don't touch me!" 

"Cold," Barry yelled again. "Cold, you're dreaming!"

He tried once again to steady him, hands on his shoulder. He wondered if Mardon or Jesse could hear them.

"It's just a dream...hey...Len!"

His eyes finally shot open and he panicked at Barry's proximity. Then he began to remember where he was. His breathing was spastic.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked, eyes wide, hands reaching out to him. 

"Fine," Snart answered, looking away quickly. 

Barry was taken aback. Len's chest was heaving. 

"What happened?" he asked quietly, staring persistently. 

"No, Barry. Shut up." 

That's how Barry knew it was bad. That wasn't snarky at all. He hadn't even tried. 

"I get them too," Barry said quietly, looking ahead at the wall. 

Cold said nothing. He was fine. If anything, he was bothered Barry had seen him have a nightmare, not by the nightmare itself. 

"Sometimes it's things that actually happened. Like I'm standing there over my mom..when..." Barry stopped. "But sometimes it's things that haven't happened. It's Iris or Cisco or Caitlin...who are..."

"Barry-" Len tried to interrupt, but Barry continued. 

"But the worst part is that in the moment, you can't tell the difference. And when you wake up, I don't know which one hurts more."

"Sounds more like you're the one who needs to talk about his problems," he quipped immediately without looking up. 

But Barry didn't miss a beat. "Which one was it?" 

It took him a minute to realize what Barry was asking. Was it something that happened, or something that didn't? Though, frankly, he didn't really feel like it made a difference.

"It happened...mostly," Len sighed, reluctance filling his voice. "It honestly begins to run together."

"Do things like this...bring back memories?" he gestured to the room they were in, indicating their current predicament. 

He tried his best to ask a question just intrusive enough to get some information, but not piss Snart off and bring the conversation to an abrupt stopping point. 

Len took his time before he responded. He rolled his eyes a little at the kid's attempt to psychoanalyze him. He spared Barry a quick glance and could tell he wasn't going to stop pressing. He could feel the concern radiating off of him.

People had asked him in the past about his childhood; this was nothing new. But he never really gave them adequate answers. Except this time was different. Barry wasn't prying out of personal gain, or obligation. He cared. As much as Len hated to admit it, he liked that Barry cared. Just a little. Hardly at all, he had to remind himself. And just as he had come to want to protect him, he could tell that the speedster had similar feelings. A mutual sort of bond had formed, the kind that may have only been able to form in such a situation as the one they were in. Although, really, Len did not need protecting. At least, that was what he told himself. He also told himself that his desire to protect Barry was completely based on the fact that it was necessary to his own survival. But he was growing closer to admitting that was a lie, and he knew it. 

"Yeah, I suppose," he spoke finally. "You already know my father was shitty. You even got to meet him. And sometimes I have dreams about him. So if you're looking for some sob story, you'll have to get it somewhere else."

His words came out harsher then he intended them to. Habit.

"I'm not- I just want to help." 

He was about to let him know quite clearly that he couldn't help- nor did he need his help. He was gonna tell him where he could put his help. Then he thought about the recurring pattern that seemed to be Barry's obsession with helping people. 

"When your mother died, you were there, right? And last year, you tried to go back and save her, right?"

"Yeah?" Barry was confused at the quick shift in the conversation. And curious how Snart knew all of that. 

"You couldn't help her. Your mother. So now you try to help everyone you can. You feel guilty," Len said bluntly.

"We were talking about you," Barry quickly deflected the accusation. He couldn't think about that right now. And he didn't know where the sudden analysis had come from. 

"I read people, it's part of the job description," Snart shrugged, responding to the perplexion on Barry's face. 

"Maybe you're right, but I'm not the one who just had a nightmare about my abusive father," Barry replied. 

Cold tried to hide the way he flinched slightly at Barry's abruptness. 

"Scarlet, I don't know what the hell you want me to say. You want me to talk about my feelings? Really?" Snart snapped at him. He spoke quickly and angrily. "Fine. I had a dream that I was twelve years old again. I was locked in the closet, counting the time by. It had been 4 hours and I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything all day. I started to hear yelling. Then it got louder and louder. I heard Lisa scream. I started banging on the door. I yelled as loud as I could. Finally, I picked the lock- something I hadn't done in a while...It only made things worse. She was on the ground, hand on her cheek. He was standing over her. I could tell he was drunk, more so than usual. I told him to leave her alone. The next thing I knew, he was coming at me, and I tried to block him, but like always, I couldn't...my jaw...my stomach."

"You don't have to-" Barry tried to interrupt. He heard something in Cold's voice he'd never heard before. It was growing with every word. But Len didn't even pause to listen to him. Or to look at him. He was staring straight ahead at the door. Barry realized this was not just a dream, but a flashback. There was too much detail. Too much emotion. Every word of his story pierced through him. 

"He hit me and he hit me. He threw me down the stairs into the basement. I heard my sister screaming, but he shut the basement door behind him. My arm was twisted wrong, and I was screaming because it hurt so bad, but I quickly backed the down the rest of the steps, trying to get away, but I tripped. He knocked me onto the ground and kicked me in the stomach. In the ribs. In the head. The room was spinning. I could still hear my sister yelling. I was twelve. I thought I was going to die."

Snart had never talked about what happened before. Sure, people knew the kinds of things his father had done, and he'd briefly acknowledged what happened. But never like this. Not even when he was a kid and the counselor at school wanted to know why he had a black eye. He said nothing. He didn't know why he was telling the story now. He started talking out of spite, hoping to make Barry regret what he asked for. But it was as if he'd put a small crack in the wall he built up, and subsequently the whole thing crumbled. 

"He told me I deserved it. That I was a worthless piece of shit. That I was the reason for all our family's problems. That he was going to kill me. And that everyone would be better off. I was twelve. I believed him. It was years before I realized he was the piece of shit."

Barry heard something break. He didn't say anything. He wanted to say something, but he was speechless. There was so much pain in his voice, but even more anger. Seeing him like this scared him. And hurt him. 

"I was twelve, Barry," Len choked out.

He felt so exposed. This wasn't who he was. This wasn't what he did. Something had overcome him, and whatever it was, he detested it.

"I'm so sorry," Barry answered finally. That was all he could offer. But he meant it with everything he had. 

That night Barry sat a little closer to Cold. Not quite touching, but close enough to feel each other's presence. He thought it might help. And the fact that Snart didn't say anything about it confirmed that it did. 

They didn't speak of it again. 

Food came about once a day, usually burgers, but one time it was sandwiches. 

There hadn't been another video chat, but Mardon had made it a point to keep Barry filled in on the havoc he had been wreaking on Central City. 

The day after Christmas, Mardon came in with their food and water, tossed the contents onto the floor and leaned back against the door with a smirk. 

"Today I stole some expensive diamonds from the Central City Museum," he said. "I only had to kill two security guards, the rest made it out with minimal injuries."

Barry visibly stiffened. Mardon had been playing this game for days now, and Barry didn't know what was true and what wasn't. 

Two more lives. That made seven total if he was being truthful. 

"He's lying," Snart growled. He didn't like the mind games the bastard was playing. 

"You better be lying," Barry locked eyes with Mardon. "Because if you're not, I wouldn't want to be you when I get out of these." 

He tugged on the handcuffs for emphasis. He meant what he said with every fiber of his being. Those lives were on him. Seven lives. He was the city's protector and he wasn't there. 

Mardon laughed and walked out the door. 

Len could easily see the guilt in Barry's eyes the instant he looked over at him. But in all honesty, he hadn't even needed to look at him to know exactly how he felt. 

"If you blame yourself, you're just doing exactly what he wants," Len said. "He's making that stuff up just to get to you, and you're letting him."

Barry eyed his food sitting across the floor from him, but made no move to grab it. 

"You think I don't know that?" Barry cocked his head to look at Cold. "I know he's probably exaggerating what's happened. But every second I'm stuck in here is another second that it's very possible for him to kill someone. And I'm not naïve enough to think that he hasn't killed anyone yet."

"Scarlet, seriously. It's not your fault," Snart said. 

"Stop telling me that," Barry sighed. "Even if it's not, Central City doesn't know that. They must think I've given up on them."

"The Flash has been annoyingly persistent for this long," Snart grabbed both of the burgers and threw one at Barry. "If they really think you've turned your back on them, they don't know you that well." 

A quick smile flickered across Barry's face. Even Len's compliments were disguised as annoyance. 

Barry bit into his burger and decided that after they got out of there he was going to be a chicken nugget kinda guy. If he never looked at another burger again, it'd be too soon. 

"You know," he said, in between bites. "However upset they are that they lost the Flash, it's probably evened out by how happy they are that Captain Cold is gone."

Snart raised his eyebrows, looking unamused. 

"Not to be confused with Leonard Snart though...that guy's significantly less of a dick."

"Stop, you're making me blush," Snart rolled his eyes. 

"Still a dick, just significantly less of one."

The next morning, just when Barry'd thought it had been eerily quiet on Mardon and Jesse's end, he found himself back in the room with the computers. 

Except this time the camera wasn't on him or Snart. It was on the Trickster and he was speaking into it. 

'This will just take a minute.' Mardon had said. They weren't even restrained in their chairs. Not physically anyway, just by the looming threat of being electrocuted as Mardon watched over them menacingly.

They watched as Jesse pressed one final button and began to smile into the camera. 

"Good morning Central City," he began enthusiastically. 

Not a video-chat like before. A city-wide broadcast. Barry braced himself. Those never seemed to mean anything good. 

"So I'm sure you've noticed that there's been a certain red speedster absent from the city," Jesse said. "We've got him." 

He laughed. His voice echoed throughout the room, giving Barry shivers. Every muscle in his body was tense. 

"You want to see who he is?" The Trickster teased. Barry's breathing quickened. He knew this was a possibility. He knew they might do this. But he still wasn't ready for it. "You'll have to wait until tonight at midnight. That's when we're gonna broadcast it. Tune in to see."

With that, the Trickster turned off the camera and turned back to the others. 

Reveal his identity? There was no way that this was their endgame. 

"This is your big plan?" Barry taunted, looking from Jesse to Mardon, trying to hide his concern. 

A knowing look was shared between the two, and then they both laughed. 

Then Barry clenched as he felt the familiar feeling of Mardon's lightning. He would've thought he'd have gotten used to it by now. He hadn't. 

"Hey!" Barry heard Len call, threateningly.

When the initial shock subsided and the throbbing that always followed had started, Barry opened his eyes to find Jesse two feet in front of him. 

"Don't worry, we just had to draw in our viewers. There's so much more planned for tomorrow night." The Trickster smiled, pulling a knife from his pocket, a knife they recognized too well. 

Slowly, he approached Barry and with one quick movement the knife was against his throat. His breathing hitched. 

"I'm not going to kill you now," he said, circling his chair and bringing the flat edge of the knife slowly up and across his cheek. "That would be boring."

He wouldn't react. He tried his best not to shy away from the blade. Instead of shuddering he willed himself to look over at Snart, who had been remaining uncharacteristically quiet. 

"We've invited some old friends of yours," Mardon said, his voice seeping with too much eagerness for Barry's liking. "Tomorrow night, they're gonna join us in killing you. Everybody who's ever wanted to kill you themselves will all get to partake, for a small entrance fee of course. It's really the perfect plan. You die for everyone, including all of your friends, to see, and we're going to profit nicely off of it."

When the Weather Wizard had finished talking, Barry's face showed no emotion but anger, but Snart had seen it falter. Barely, but it was there in the slight quiver of his lip. And in his eyes. 

"You're not going to get away with this," Barry shook his head. 

He knew the line was cliché, but he had nothing more to say. He didn't know what else to say. His family was going to come for him. Or at least they were going to try. He knew they would try. 

Barry was still processing what had just been said. The next few minutes were somewhat of a blur. He knew that outwardly he looked angry. That much he remembered- deciding that anger was the emotion he'd choose to show. Don't get him wrong, he was angry, he was infuriated. But that wasn't his most prominent emotion. He didn't even really realize that he was moving until they were pushed back into the basement. The door shut and Barry flinched at the sound, then mentally scolded himself for it. 

He fell back against the wall and sunk to the ground, and the mask of anger Snart had seen before was gone. 

"So we have like 12 hours to get out of here," Snart broke the silence. "We can swing that."

Barry said nothing. His hands moved idly, but he stared straight ahead. Len watched him sit there. This whole time he'd been so concerned for everyone else. Len. His friends and family at STAR Labs. Central City. Now he could tell that the speedster feared for his own life. He didn't look all that different. Except for his eyes. The fire was still there but it was as if it was clouded in smoke. Hazy. Dying. 

He knew Barry had faced life or death situations time after time. But he supposed a scheduled death sentence was another thing entirely. It was enough to drive anyone crazy. To have that looming over them. Especially when he was so powerless against it. Literally.

"Barry..." Len was never good at this kind of thing. Except with Lisa. "We're gonna do what we can."

Then he also realized that he didn't want Barry to die. He didn't want to die himself either, but that was no longer his only concern. He truly didn't want Barry to die. The irony felt sickening. He'd tried to kill him himself so many times. Times were so much simpler. 

He knelt down, and shook the Flash's shoulder. "Snap out of it, alright?" Snart implored. "You're not going to die tomorrow."

"Would you stop saying things like that?" Barry finally turned to him, his expression wild. "Stop telling me things like they're certainties, when they're just slim, slim chances. Let's just be realistic about this."

He began to tug and twist his wrists again. They were rubbed raw at this point. 

He stopped all at once. "If my hand was cut off do you think my speed would come back?"

"What the hell?" Snart asked. 

"I mean as like a last resort...the cuffs would be off-"

"Barry," Len cut him off, "You'd have to amputate both hands. You heal quickly...that doesn't mean you can grow back body parts. Plus, if your speed or whatever has been siphoned into those cuffs, I don't know if that's going to give you your powers back. I think the key's the only way."

In all honesty, Len knew that if he'd been in Barry's place, it wasn't a completely ridiculous idea if it truly came down to it. He'd only have to deal with the repercussions if it actually worked. And if it didn't, well, Barry was right, it wasn't going to make a difference. But he didn't need Barry thinking like that right now. He didn't want to think like that right now. 

Barry groaned, "Okay, but we're talking last resort- I'm gonna die anyway- type situation-"

"You're not going to die," Len asserted, much more confidently than he actually felt. 

"You don't know that!" Barry yelled, lurching to his feet. He began to pace, wobbling. He still looked so weak. 

He walked over to the left wall, arms above his head, wrists pressed against the concrete. He rested his forehead on the cold wall, eyes squeezed shut. 

"If- if he's serious," he spoke into the wall, barely above a whisper, his eyes still closed. "Len, I've made some very bad people very angry. I- I can't fight them off. I can't do anything." 

Nobody deserved this. Len felt more sympathetic than he'd ever thought was possible for him to feel. It hurt him. It would hurt anyone. Nobody deserved this- and definitely not Barry. 

Barry felt a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what's going to happen tonight, but I know that we're going to try our best, and that your friends and my sister are trying their best. And as horribly difficult as you've made my life in the past, you didn't deserve any of this."

He felt the speedster shudder slightly and heard him choke back a sob. He saw a tear slip down his cheek. So many times he would've thought he'd love to see the day the Flash fell apart. Now he realized how much he never wanted to see this. Someone could only go through so much before they cracked. Barry made it this long- and that made him strong. But even titanium eventually shatters.


	13. Chapter 13

Three days had gone by and not much progress had been made. 

Christmas had passed. The funny thing was that the first one to realize it was Wells, who then made a passing comment about it. Or maybe others had realized it but not said anything. Iris hadn't. She'd never felt less holiday cheer in her life. 

That afternoon when everybody seemed to be out of contributions to make to the effort until further developments unfolded, and a hush had filled the laboratory, gifts were exchanged. Quietly and discreetly. Because any sort of joy just felt wrong and out of place. She wouldn't have been angry if anyone had enjoyed themselves. She was pretty sure no one would have felt it disrespectful of anyone else, but that it was all their own guilt that seemed to suck the happiness from each of them. 

Cisco had given Lisa a new gun. Like her last one, but higher tech. Iris didn't remember all the specifications, but Cisco sure had seemed proud of it. 

That night she thought she had even seen Caitlin and Jay kiss under the mistletoe. 

Those who had gifts for Barry placed them in front of the mannequin with his suit. Iris was the first to do this. A few weeks ago, she'd finally found Barry a vintage copy of his favorite comic book from when he was a kid. Later her father, Cisco, and Cait had done the same with their gifts. Nothing was said. 

It was now three days since the video chat. After he'd seen Barry...Joe had thought he was going to be sick. And then he actually had been. 

Recently, they'd thought they'd been on to something. 

Cisco and Wells thought they'd found a general location to which Mardon seemed to be heading towards after all of his exploits. It was on the south end of Central City. They all drove out there together and spent an entire day searching. Canvassing the area, trying to detect shifts in the atmosphere that could indicate Mardon. They'd found nothing. Coming home that night had been painful for all of them. Iris almost had to be dragged back, she refused to give up. 

One thing was for sure, Mardon knew what he was doing. 

Barry had 8 missed calls and at least a dozen texts from Patty. Iris had stopped counting. She'd noticed Captain Singh and the station had stopped calling two days ago. Her dad had been dodging them all as much as he could. Patty had probably dropped by the house too, but they'd hardly spent any time there since Barry was taken. No one had dropped by STAR Labs yet asking about him but she was sure it was only a matter of time. 

"I've gotta run by the station. I've been trying to avoid it, but eventually Singh's gonna come to me, and he's gonna ask some questions," Joe had said, after they came back from searching for Barry. 

Iris gave him a quick hug as he walked out the door. 

The drive to the precinct felt awful. Having to talk to Singh made it all the more real. Not that it hadn't seemed real before. The video chat had sent reality crashing down around him quite hard. But every day that they didn't have Barry hurt more than the last. 

The precinct was quiet, and Joe found Singh in his office, at his desk. 

"West?" Singh glanced up from his paperwork, eyes full of questions. 

He was just going to have to rip the bandaid off. Captain Singh could be trusted. He was a large supporter of the Flash, and Barry for that matter, despite giving him a hard time as often as he did. Joe knew he really did care about Barry. 

"Captain Singh...I don't know how to tell you this and it's really not my secret to tell, but I feel like in this situation-" 

"Joe, I've done the math," Singh cut him off, offering a small, sad smile. "I've suspected it for a while. I wouldn't be very good at my job if I hadn't. The current leave of absence on both their parts just confirmed it." 

Joe let out a sigh of relief. He was a little surprised, but frankly he'd wondered if the Captain had put it together yet. It really seemed about time for somebody to have figured it out. Don't get him wrong, he was extremely grateful that Barry's second identity hadn't been revealed yet, but it seemed unlikely that no one was going to figure it out. Barry wasn't exactly smooth with his excuses. 

"Don't worry, it's safe with me. Just let me know if you guys figure anything out over at STAR Labs, and you want some help," Singh ran his hand through his hair. "CCPD will always stand behind the Flash...Barry's saved us time after time. We'd give anything to return the favor." 

Joe nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks Captain. One more thing- could you keep Patty busy? I can't exactly tell her what's up, and she's getting suspicious."

He nodded to the blonde across the corridor, who he hoped he could make it out of the building without encountering, so as to avoid the impending interrogation concerning Barry's whereabouts. 

"Sure thing. Now get the hell out of here, West. You've got a CSI of mine to find," Singh pointed to the door. 

When Joe arrived back at STAR Labs, Caitlin was on the phone. 

"Green Arrow," Iris had told him. 

Felicity and Oliver walked into STAR Labs the next morning, almost exactly 8 hours after they called Caitlin back, even though Cisco was pretty sure it should've been at least 10, given they didn't have super speed. So basically, he deduced that they had hauled some serious ass to get here. 

Oliver wasn't currently in his vigilante clothes, but had them all packed in his duffel bag. 

"Isn't he dead?" Oliver asked immediately, pointing at Wells.

"On my Earth, you're dead," Wells stated, pondering his doppelgänger. 

"Sorry, we were a little busy," Oliver turned to Caitlin and Cisco, setting down his duffle bag. "Once Felicity told me what was up, we got here as quick as we could. Dig and the rest of the team are holding down the fort."

Felicity took in the group of people in the room. Barry had accumulated quite the team. She was happy for him. This wasn't the line of work to go into alone. All of these people were searching for him. Cared about him. She was happy he had that. She walked over and sat down next to Cisco at one of the computers.

"Okay, who are we dealing with?" Oliver asked, leaning back against the counter. 

"Mark Mardon and James Jesse," Joe answered. "Took him 5 days ago. We think they also took Leonard Snart."

At that, Oliver wrinkled his nose, "Like the thief...what do you guys call him...Captain Cold?"

"Yes, like the thief," Lisa cut in. "But also like my brother."

She didn't like the way he had said that with disdain. On any other occasion she wouldn't care, but this guy was supposedly their best shot at saving Barry and Len, and she didn't want him thinking her brother wasn't a priority. 

Cisco placed a hand on her shoulder to placate her and offered Oliver a quick apologetic look. "Snart's not a threat. It's important we save them both."

Oliver simply nodded. He wondered what exactly had happened between the Snarts and Team Flash. Were they some sort of allies now? He pushed it out of his mind, that didn't matter right now. 

"Are we up against metas?" he asked. 

Joe nodded. "Mardon can control the weather. Jesse's just a crazy bastard." 

"Controls the weather," he grimaced. "Awesome."

Cisco turned to Felicity, "The other day, Mardon and Jesse video-chatted us...do you think you can use that to pinpoint their location."

Felicity nodded. 

"Nothing that Felicity and the Green Arrow can't fix," she said, cracking her knuckles. "Oh...Not everyone here knew that Oliver is...right? It's so hard to keep track. But I mean, I guess in desperate times like this, it's not that important anywa-" 

"Felicity."

"Right," she nodded and began her work. 

Watching Felicity hack was like watching an Olympic athlete in their prime. She flipped her sleek ponytail back and her nails clicked away against the keyboard. Symbols flashed across the screen faster than anyone else could process. 

The only sound filling the room was Felicity's typing. Until it wasn't. 

"So I'm sure you've noticed that there's been a certain red speedster absent from the city," the Trickster's face popped up all of the monitors, including the one Felicity had been working from. "We've got him."

"Oh my god," Joe said. 

Everyone turned to watch. They all tried to discern what they could from the image, but Jesse's giggling face filled the whole screen. 

Iris's phone pinged. 

"It's citywide," she said after checking it. "Linda just texted me." 

"This cannot be good," Joe ran his hand over his face. 

"I'm trying to override it," Felicity hands danced across the keys. "And then I can track where it's being broadcasted from."

Symbols danced across the Trickster's face on Felicity's monitor.

"You want to see who it is?" The Trickster teased. "You'll have to wait until tonight at midnight. That's when we're gonna broadcast it. Tune in to see."

The room was filled with Jesse's laugh until he disappeared from the screens as quickly as he came. 

"Oh god, Barry," Cisco said.

"Those two are crazy, I don't...revealing his identity isn't all they're gonna do," Joe choked out, voicing what they were all thinking.

Cisco went back to pacing, "We've gotta do this by tonight." His forehead was scrunched together in concentration. 

"I've got a location," Felicity interrupted. "It looks like an abandoned office-type building about an hour and a half out of Central City."

Oliver was already unzipping his bag. Lisa had grabbed her gun and was gripping it with everything she had. Cisco had grabbed the keys to the van. 

Iris stood up. "Don't even try to tell me I'm not going," she said to her dad before he could get a word in. 

Joe looked unhappy with this, like he wanted to protest, but the determination on his daughter's face stopped him. 

"Let's get these sons of bitches," Lisa said, already halfway to the door. 

Wells waved his hands and yelled for everyone's attention. 

"Everybody, calm down, we've got 12 hours. If we just storm in there without a plan or a way of fighting Mardon, we don't know what will happen. To us, or to Barry...and Snart," he spoke quickly, and with authority. "Ramone, how long until the second wand's finished?"

"Uh, a couple hours," Cisco answered. 

"We'll get it done in one," he started towards the lab. "The rest of you, that's how long you've got to figure out an attack plan. Alright, find all the entrances to this building and work from there." 

"Are you getting some creepy Wells-slash-Thawne dejavú right now?" Cisco spoke behind his hand to Caitlin. 

"Ramone!" he yelled back without turning around.

"Coming!"


End file.
